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Point of No Return | Year: 1993 Classification: Action/Adventure Directed: - John Badham Actors/Actresses: - Bridget Fonda - Gabriel Byrne - Dermot Mulroney Only Harvey Keitel Fans Need Bother With This "Point" I only saw "Point Of No Return"(The American remake of the French film "La Femme Nikita") because I read that Harvey Keitel has an interesting cameo in this movie. After one viewing, I have to say that this cameo is the only worthwhile element in the whole movie. Street punk Bridget Fonda is sent to prison and supposedly executed for unintentionally killing a police officer. Fonda is "brought back to life" by a secret government agency that trains her to become an assassin. "Point Of No Return" is nowhere near as intelligent, exciting, or heartfelt as the original "La Femme Nikita" or its Hong Kong remake, "Black Cat." Fonda brings nothing to her character. "PONR" is just another plastic Hollywood action movie. Harvey Keitel is the only saving grace of this film. Unfortunately, he only appears for about twenty minutes near the end of the movie. Keitel's performance as Victor the Cleaner, a stone-faced and almost robotic hit man, is solid proof that acting is far more than merely reading lines. He has only one line of dialogue, but exudes an awesome and creepy presence. Keitel kills people and pours corrosive acid on corpses without flinching an eye. His performance rivals Jean Reno's portrayal of a similar character in the original "La Femme Nikita." "PONR" is only for Harvey Keitel fans. For a great female hit woman movie, see "La Femme Nikita" and "Black Cat." From Street Punk to Sophisticated Killer There seems to be some kind of rule that dictates that critics pan any American remake of a French film. In this case, Point of No Return moves La Femme Nikita from the eastern side of the Atlantic to the states. I'm glad they did! Bridget Fonda stars as the punk soul turned hired killer, with Gabriel Byrne as her shadowy government agent/handler who offers her a lavish lifestyle in return for becoming a cold blooded killer. Fonda handles the role with ease, keeping you off balance with her transformation from street waif to lethal sophisticate. It all makes for a fast-paced thrill ride that relies on plot twists more than car chases. Okay, so maybe it isn't a major cinematic achievement worthy of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, but it's a very watch-able, enjoyable movie! Pitiful remake... The excellent original French film, Luc Besson's "La Femme Nikita" (the ridiculous U.S. title for "Nikita"), is unavoidably 'remade' with no style by the Hollywood big shots who as usual prefered to produce a local - and commercial - version of a foreign language film they have liked instead of distributing this film all over their country. That's what we call 'recovery', the result of an isolationist - and greedy - mentality. And the result is always bad, always. "Point of no Return" is no exception: the film is so bad, so pitiful that Luc Besson himself, disgusted, have shot his next film, "Leon - the Professional", in the United States and in English language to avoid any similar massacre. Bridget Fonda looks more like a damn dirty female kid than like a Punk, hateful, determined hoodlum, and the heavy, tough aesthetics of the film doesn't at all fit its supposed real subject: distress. Gabriel Byrne, Harvey Keitel, Anne Bancroft and Miguel Ferrer are very good but they can't be very much help to this brainless TV-looking film which has brought out an even more desperately silly TV series. "La Femme Nikita" wasn't distributed in the U.S. theaters but that "Point of no Return" was in France. Frankly, I've been wondering why for long. And we can be amazed when we think that this lousy film was directed by the same man who gave us "War Games" and "Saturday Night Fever"... Good Action Pic But Lacks French Cynicism I think the French really know how to make a crime movie. We seem to go for the thug angle, whereas they bring on the elan and panache. I am a real Bridget Fonda fan, even though I hate her mother and every movie she made except when she played herself in "Klute." This is, a one reviewer stated, virtually a frame-by-frame remake of the original French. So are a lot of films from Hollywood, but that does not make it inferior. This is movie is not inferior because the acting is not inferior. Gabriel Byrne isn't as good as in "Usual Suspects," but his portrayal is still excellent as Fonda's (Maggie's) tutor. The one to watch is Harvey Keitel as Victor the Cleaner. His version is much superior to that of Schwarzenegger's concept. Don't you just like how he gets rid of the irritating guy banging on the trunk of his car? Wouldn't it be great to do the same thing at a super market? And how about those glasses? It's all in the acting. The minor irritant is Mulroney as the boyfriend. What a limp biscuit. It's like he knew the only way he could get Fonda in bed was by acting with her in a movie. I think I was available in 1992, but nobody called me, meaning they had to settle for him. Buy Point Of No Return at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Point Of No Return Search with the Priority Search Engine on Point Of No Return This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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