Luc Besson's Nikita (AKA La Femme Nikita) was a domestic success back in 1990 and spawned an American remake (Point of No Return) and two TV series. It is definitely an action film made on the cheap, but that statement takes nothing away from its energy, originality, or Bessonian texture. In the story, a delinquent girl is reprogrammed and trained as a French secret agent by her arguably sadistic handler. We're privy to her whole career, from indoctrination through the events that will make her want to leave the service. Where Nikita surprises is in the very strangeness of the lead character. In any other film, the character would be dead sexy and a cool badass. Instead, Nikita is a total mess, both physically and mentally. She's completely unpredictable, and so is her world, with the circumstances propelling her into this life and those expelling her out are masterful cock-ups. A note on being a French speaker: Some of the accents were a little difficult, so the subtitles were turned on. Hilariously, it is not a direct translation, but an approximation that still tells the story, but creates frequent and hilarious discrepancies for the bilingual audience member.

The soundtrack is so cool. Very entertaining film

Bad-ass movie.