Point of No Return (Widescreen/Full Screen): Amazon.ca: Bridget Fonda: DVD

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Point of No Return is one of those Hollywood remakes of a European hit in which one can visualize a committee of studio executives sitting around and saying, "Okay, we know what made the original film unique and different and fun. How can we make that same movie and do exactly the opposite?" For-hire director John Badham (Saturday Night Fever) took La Femme Nikita, Luc Besson's undeniably sexy, original, and kitschy French film about a female assassin, and translated it into a calculating, mechanistic American thriller with no distinctive style. Bridget Fonda gamely plays the willowy street punk who becomes a high-society killer, but once that provocative irony is in place, the movie is pretty much a series of by-the-numbers action set pieces. Until, that is, Dermot Mulroney shows up as a love interest; but even that twist can't save this film. You're much better off with the original, subtitles and all. --Tom Keogh

Video Details

"Bridget Fonda is pure dynamite" (WWOR-TV) as a murderous misfit reprogrammed as a high-tech assassin. Gabriel Byrne and Anne Bancroft co-star in "one of the top thrillers of the year" (ABC Radio Network). Year: 1993 Director: John Badham Starring: Bridget Fonda, Gabriel Byrne, Dermot Mulroney

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Customer Reviews

42 Reviews

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(15)

Average Customer Review

2.8 out of 5 stars (42 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars nikita was crazy, simone is just bad!, Jun 3 2010

By

Peter Andronas "Petros" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Point of No Return (Widescreen/Full Screen) (DVD)

I normally don't appreciate remakes while some have been better...very few succeed. What most people don't realize is that in one example Three Men and a Baby may have been a remake of a French film but the French version was a remake of a 1948 Ford film named 3 Godfathers; better than all the others! There's nothing wrong with that...they keep remaking Shakespeare!

The surprise in Point Of No Return is.... if I had to guess the French sensibility I would have said this version not the Nikita was more like a French film. Nikita, Besson's original film is an exciting, sensationalist bad girl film but in the end she seems more crazy and a little disturbed than bad and the relationship with the boyfriend seems like an unlikely pair, while in the American version she's bad and attempts to become human again in a much more realistic way and with great action set pieces! John Badham made this version because he didn't want audiences to watch a dubbed version of Nikita or to be distracted by subtitles through-out the intriguing action which was set by Besson.

I like both films but I love the Point Of No Return, its priniciple character's motivations are a little more intriguing than hearing Ni-ki-ta like a patient in a mental ward...see that version and you'll know what I mean! She goes from crazy to slightly immature...very sensationalist portrait of a criminal and troubled mind but Simone in the American version goes from anger to drug-free to becoming human and strong. At the end of Nikita I feel she was lucky not to be assassinated but at the end of Point Of No Return I feel Simone will do something wonderful and fascinating in her life as an independent strong woman. If you're going to bother with a happy ending make it one that works in the real world with real people not caricatures.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Good Action Pic But Lacks French Cynicism, Jun 26 2004

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S. Annand (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Point of No Return (Widescreen/Full Screen) (DVD)

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.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Completely pointless remake, Feb 17 2004

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Paul P. Belle Isle (Saint Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Point of No Return (Widescreen/Full Screen) (DVD)

Decently acted, this American remake of Luc Besson's classic "La Femme Nikita" is still pretty flat, which is odd, because it literally copies the original nearly frame by frame, and the original has a truly magical spark and energy to it. If you've seen the original and then viewed this version, "Point of No Return" becomes an appalling experience that highlights the very worst creativity-by-committee aspects of Hollywood.

Buy the original "La Femme Nikita", deal with the subtitles, and whatever you do, stay away from the dreary and over-dramatized TV series of the same name. "La Femme Nikita" is excellent, even if you don't like French movies (and to be honest the dubbed version on the most recent editions of that DVD is reasonably watchable), you'll like this one.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh La La!
"Point of No Return" is the first movie in a looong time that I have rewound certain scenes and replayed them several times during our showing of it -much to my husband's dismay... Read more

Published on Nov 6 2003 by Kimberly Carter

5.0 out of 5 stars DIFFERENT
I LOVED this movie!

It is an unusual plot with excellent acting, cinematography, and sound.