Pure Bollocks Issue 22_033

eZine lover (@eZine)

Published in 

Pure Bollocks

 · 5 years ago

  

 
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                      F  I  L  M  *  R  E  V  I  E  W  S 

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                              POINT OF NO RETURN 

                      A film review by James Berardinelli 
                       Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli 

Released:   3/19/93 
Length:     1:48 
Rated:      18 (Violence, language, sexual situations) 
Starring:   Bridget Fonda,  Gabriel  Byrne,  Dermot  Mulroney,  Anne  Bancroft, 
            Harvey Keitel 
Director:   John Badham 
Producer:   Art Linson 
Screenplay: Robert Getchell and Alexander Seros based  on Luc Besson's LA FEMME 
            NIKITA 
Music:      Hans Zimmer Released by Warner Brothers Pictures 

 
     Maggie (Bridget Fonda) is a strung-out member  of a gang bent on robbing a 
drugstore to get their fixes.  Things go wrong,  the cops show up, and a fierce 
gunfight ensues.  In the aftermath, a police officer finds Maggie cowering in a 
corner.  Without hesitation, she shoots  him  in  the  head.   This earns her a 
death sentence which is commuted - on condition that she agree to work for "The 
Government" in a secret  capacity  as  an  assassin.   Her  mentor  in this new 
training is Bob (Gabriel Byrne), who, after she shows uncooperative tendencies, 
informs her that if she doesn't begin  to  apply  herself, the result will be a 
bullet through her brain.  Maggie gets the  message and soon becomes one of the 
most promising trainees. 

     Let me begin by making it clear that I have no particular prejudice for or 
against remakes, whether they be of American or foreign films.  I generally try 
to judge the  movie  on  its  own  merits  as  well  as  making  the inevitable 
comparisons to its precursor.  I liked  SOMMERSBY,  for example, because it was 
an entertaining and  enjoyable  story,  despite  the  fact  that  it  made some 
significant  changes  from  THE  RETURN  OF  MARTIN  GUERRE.   I  disliked  THE 
VANISHING, because it took a  taunt,  effective  ending and muted it Hollywood- 
style, leaving behind a husk that was laughably absurd. 

     POINT OF NO RETURN makes few changes  from  LA FEMME NIKITA.  In fact, the 
American version is so close to the French  that in many cases it's more like a 
translation  than  a  remake  (camera   angles   and  dialogue  are  frequently 
identical).  Director John Badham (STAKEOUT) obviously made a detailed study of 
the original before embarking on  the  remake.  While  the  details of the last 
caper are changed and the  ending  has  been  slightly  manicured, there are no 
wholesale alterations.  Through  the  entire  movie,  up  to  and including the 
closing scenes, the spirit of the original  has been kept intact.  There are no 
Hollywood-induced embellishments.  For the most part,  POINT OF NO RETURN plays 
like LA FEMME NIKITA in English. 

     One of the reasons that POINT OF  NO  RETURN  is so enjoyable is that it's 
like none of the recent crop of  thrillers,  all  of which seem to involve some 
apparently-benign outside force infiltrating  a  home  or  office.  POINT OF NO 
RETURN is fresh, featuring a script  with  a  few twists and turns (although no 
surprises for those who have seen NIKITA) and a heroine who is at the same time 
sympathetic and murderous. 

     While some of the  direction  and  camerawork  in  POINT  OF NO RETURN are 
inferior to those of NIKITA, the casting of Bridget Fonda is an excellent move. 
Ms. Fonda brings more humanity and regret to Maggie than Anne Parillaud does to 
Nikita.  Maggie is distraught at  each  killing  she  participates in; it takes 
Nikita longer for the effects of her job  to  wear her down.  That's not to say 
that Fonda is better in the role,  simply  that the changes give the audience a 
slightly different perspective on the character. 

     Gabriel Byrne is adequate as Bob,  but  Dermot  Mulroney is weak.  I never 
bought the relationship between  his  J.  P.  and  Maggie.   At  its best, it's 
contrived; at its worst, it's completely  implausible. Mulroney does nothing to 
flesh out his character.  He is, without a  doubt, the weak spot of POINT OF NO 
RETURN, even as Harvey Keitel's  deadpan  performance  as Victor the Cleaner is 
the high point. 

     Because of the closeness of the two films, it's difficult to rate POINT OF 
NO RETURN much  differently  than  NIKITA.   Both  tell  a  fun  (if completely 
implausible) story with lots of violence and action.  POINT OF NO RETURN boasts 
Bridget Fonda's more-humanized assassin; NIKITA  has  crisper direction and the 
decisive advantage of being "the original." Those  who have not seen the French 
version will enjoy the remake.  Those  who  watched  -  and liked - NIKITA will 
probably be pleasantly surprised at the  faithfulness  of POINT OF NO RETURN to 
its inspiration. 

                            Rating: 8.4 (B+, ***) 

                  James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)