5 Star

Educating Nikita

StudioCanal and Fetch Publicity bring us the definitive three disk steelbook of this 1990 French Classic spy action thriller. From the pen of master filmmaker Luc Besson (Taxi, Arthur and the Great Adventure, Leon, Fifth Element) comes the gritty tale of a girl done wrong to a sanctioned killer and all the troubles that entails. Nikita is just sheer brilliance in its writing and photography by Thierry Arbogast (Cannes Technical Grand Prize winner for The Fifth Element) as well as the haunting score of Éric Serra (The Big Blue). Lead actor Anne Parillaud, who won the César Award for Best Actress, takes us on an emotional rollercoaster of a ride. This is a must own for the Luc Besson fan in the family.

Four junkies roam the streets of Paris looking for a fix, one of them ‘Coyotte’ (Patrick Fontana, The Big Blue, The Red Siren) has the keys to his parent’s pharmacy, they literally have Nikita (Anne Parillaud, Map of the Human Heart, The Man in the Iron Mask) in tow. But being in the state that they are in, they are not quiet, waking Antoine’s parents, who call the police. This leads to the first action as a shoot-out begins with the cops.

In the end, Nikita is the only one of the gang left, and she is sentenced to life in imprisonment for the deaths of the cops. Nikita is a real nasty piece of work, and she acts up at every opportunity. Which ends up earning her a swift journey to the afterlife.

It is a much more forlorn figure that wakes up in a plain white room when Bob (Tchéky Karyo, The Core, Bad Boys) walks into the room. She doesn’t know where she is, in heaven, or hell. But Bob works for ‘the Centre’ A government secret agency that trains waifs and strays into killing machines.

If I don’t make it? You’ll make it.

But this forlorn figure has the attitude of a militant, and Bob will have his work cut out. Given time, and lots of effort on everybody part. She can become what they hoped she could become, and with the work of Amande (Jeanne Moreau, Lift to the Scaffold, Jules and Jim) Nikita is turned into a woman.

A smile is surface sweetness.

Can Nikita be released out into the world?

Time to find out, in this 4K Limited Edition Steelbook. Great action, a classic film that has inspired many remakes around the world, and TV Series based upon this Luc Besson masterpiece.

Nikita SteelBook [Blu-ray] [Region A & B & C]