"La Femme Nikita" spawned an American remake and a television series. And, it's correct to say it's a bit of a cult film and a lot of folks like this film. Well, I liked it...but didn't love it mostly because of some logical problems early in the film. Still, I recommend you see it because the story is quite original.

The film begins with a very violent and senseless crime. Some druggies break into a pharmacy and soon a bloodbath ensues. The police arrive and several of them are also killed. One of the druggies survives and is indicted on several counts of murder.

Throughout the next 20 minutes or so, the surviving druggie, Nikita, behaves like she is either psychotic or possessed. She is nasty, violent and completely antisocial. Not surprisingly, she's sentenced to a very lengthy prison term. However, something odd happens--her death in prison is faked and she wakes up in a training center for assassins and spies. This is a neat setup but really made no sense. If the government was going to recruit assassins, a woman who seemed very emotionally disturbed and possibly mentally challenged seems like a bizarre and nonsensical choice. Making her less weird, whacked out and more obviously intelligent would have explained their selection process--and selecting Nikita seemed strange. If you can look past all this, the film get VERY interesting once she leaves training and tries to establish a dual life--a conventional woman with a boyfriend AND a secret killer! To me, the last portion was far better--and made much more sense. What happens next? See it for yourself--it's a decent little thriller.

In many ways, this film reminds me of an earlier film "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins"--though, oddly, the setup for "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins" was much better BUT the mission portion was terrible. With "La Femme Nikita" it was the exact opposite.

Nikita (Anne Parillaud) is a drugged out violent criminal. When she and her cohorts end up in a drugstore shootout with police, she kills one of the officers. She's sentenced to life in prison. Then a secret organization breaks her out of prison, fakes her suicide, and Bob (Tchéky Karyo) trains her to be a secret agent.

This is Luc Besson as the cool french director. Sure it's not realistic, but it's super cool. One thing is sure. The man has style. And he has a few funny things to add. No where else is a guy getting slapped so hilarious. He's doing an action movie not with a muscle bound meat head, but with a skinny chick. The action looks good. The missions are memorable. They're over the top stylized ridiculousness.

Luc Besson's Nikita was one of the most stylish action thrillers to come out in 1990. It was a big hit in cinemas and VHS, even in countries that dislike films with subtitles.

The film was remade a few years later as The Assassin with Bridget Fonda but Anne Parillaud is stunning as the street delinquent fashioned into a kick ass assassin by her mentor Bob (Tcheky Karyo.)

She is trained and becomes an operative for a shadowy government agency.

Luc Besson shoots this film in a stylish, moody way, something he established a few years earlier in the film Subway. Eric Serra's electronic soundtrack is more appropriate here than it was later in GoldenEye.

The acting is very good from the stars ranging from Parillaud, Karyo, Jeanne Moreau and Jean Reno as Bob the Cleaner.

You care about the characters and the story moves along at a rapid rate.