LA FEMME NIKITA - Blu-ray review

As John J. Puccio noted in his DVD review of "La Femme Nikita," director Luc Besson's camera is "almost constantly in motion, with long shots, overhead shots, and sometimes bizarre angles the norm. What's more, the screen is endlessly awash in moody, atmospheric colors that are as much a part of one's film-watching enjoyment as the plot or characters." That's certainly true, and what's more, while the tagline is "A New Kind of Lethal Weapon," this 1990 French film with English subtitles is an entirely different sort of action film. Style is substance, and character interaction and the psychological state of Nikita (Anne Parillaud) seem more important to Besson than the action scenes, of which there are decidedly fewer than most films involving guns and assassins.

Besson, who also wrote the screenplay, obviously drew inspiration from at least two sources: the classic femme fatale of noir films and "My Fair Lady" (or "Pygmalion" before it), because Nikita isn't just a dangerous woman. She's Eliza with a drug habit and an attitude. She yelps almost as much as the scruffy Ms. Doolittle, too, in her coarse low-Parisian way. Nikita's Henry Higgins, meanwhile, is a pair of government agents--one a recruiter-handler who's called "Uncle Bob" (Tcheky Karyo) and the other a killing-school teacher (Jeanne Moreau) who shows her how to look more feminine. After all, you can't be a French government assassin if you look like a drugged-out sack of bones that the cat dug up.

There's a scene in Besson's "Leon, The Professional" (1994) where 12-year-old Natalie Portman sits with her legs drawn up, looking downcast and a lot like Parillaud did in this film. Besson fans will recognize a number of similarities and probably argue which film is better. For me, it's no contest. Parillaud is believable-but-ordinary as a pouty, drugged-up, semi-psychotic, 19-year-old killer who was coerced into becoming a government assassin. The story in "La Femme Nikita" also seems more familiar, while the characters aren't all that complex--until, that is, Nikita falls for a grocery clerk (Jean-Hugues Anglade) and discovers her normal side in the second act. Will Nikita be able to break free of her blackmail bondage? Is her nature that of a killer or a lover? Such dramatic questions keep "La Femme Nikita" from becoming just another formulaic shoot-'em-up, blow-'em-up action film. There's more plot than we usually get in a straight action film, and the suggestion of psychological insights into character--though when all is said and done, I'm not so sure that we know any more about Nikita than we did when the film began.

We're introduced to Nikita and her loser friends as they try to rob a pharmacy in the middle of the night. That stylish opening really establishes the tone and Besson's own sense of "cool." One of the punks has a key because his father owns the place. Dad catches them, police come, and there's a shoot-out. Nikita barely notices, she so slumped down on the floor in such a drug stupor that you have to wonder why she's intent on wanting more drugs. And when a gun slides her way and she takes part in the mayhem, her fate is sealed. It's off to prison and then what she thinks is a lethal injection. When she awakens in a white room (yeah, interrogation rooms should be so sterile), she wonders if she's in heaven. "You could be," Uncle Bob says, and then makes her an offer she can't refuse. She's already dead to the world, and if she says no to this government make-over, she goes straight to that cemetery plot her mother thinks she's already in.

Besson assembles a decent supporting cast (including Reno, as a thug named Victor), and he does an excellent job of creating a cinematic world in which we can really feel opposing forces (and lifestyles) tug at the main character. "La Femme Nikita" is a solid action film, but Besson would reshape some of the same material for a film that would turn out to be even more impressive and give the steely-eyed Reno more screen time in "Leon, The Professional."

Video:
As John pointed out, Besson goes with a lot of tints in this film, which gives "La Femme Nikita" a kind of metallic sheen and makes the whole film glint like a gun barrel. It's deliberate, and it's effective, so it's not prudent to talk about color saturation. The colors are right for this film. Period. The DVD looked pretty good, and so does this Blu-ray. The transfer (AVC/MPEG-4 codec) appears clean, with no artifacts or edge enhancement, and just enough hint of grain to make the film feel a little gritty. Two things I noticed, though, were that black levels are a little heavy in some scenes, while other scenes have a little atmospheric noise going on. Nothing big, though.

Audio:
I'm sure there are people who prefer dubs, but I'm not one of them. I'll happily listen to this in the original French on the featured Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless, but dub-fans aren't penalized for not wanting to read subtitles. The English version is also Dolby TrueHD 5.1. While the sound is free of corruption, it's not as dynamic a soundtrack as you might expect for an action film. The gunfire has enough pop, but for the most part those rear effects speakers really don't get much of a workout. It's the front center and main speakers that carry the load. The mid-range tones have more authority than you'd expect, but the bass doesn't exactly rock the house. Still, it's a solid soundtrack. Subtitle options are English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (traditional), and Korean.

Extras:
Unless you think of hi-def trailers for four other Sony titles as bonus features, there aren't any extras.

Bottom Line:
Some films are dominated by the actors or locations, but this is one film in which you really feel the hand of an auteur. Besson's vision and sense of style is at the forefront of almost every scene. And in "La Femme Nikita," that's a good thing, because style really elevates this film.