Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Rescued from death row by a top-secret agency, Nikita is slowly transformed from a cop-killing junkie into a cold-blooded bombshell with a license to kill. But when she begins the deadliest mission of her career only to fall for a man who knows nothing of her true identity, Nikita discovers that in the dark and ruthless world of espionage, the greatest casualty of all...is true love.

La Femme Nikita, or Nikita to its native French audience, was the film that throttled writer/director Luc Besson’s career into overdrive. This film was so popular that it spawned an American remake, Point of No Return, and a successful TV series. While I don’t feel it is Besson’s best work, it is near the top. Like most originals though, this film is far better than its American counterpart, although the American director did a decent job with the remake.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this one visually. I’ve seen this film several times but I don’t think I would ever call it a “great” looking film. But Sony has delivered a stunning HD transfer for this one that is a testament to Besson’s visual style. Fine object detail is outstanding on this one and I loved the rich sense of dimension and depth. Longer shots never suffer and the only softening noticed was a side product of the lenses used during filming. Contrast levels are excellent with deep blacks and colors are very natural and detailed. This is by far the best I’ve seen this one look to date.

The Dolby TrueHD mix is delivered in both French and English but I stuck with the original French mix. Dynamics are good but the soundtrack does have a bit of a dated feel and this wasn’t quite as rich of a production as some of Besson’s later works. Gunshots still have some muscle but they lack the visceral impact that newer films display. Eric Serra’s score is once again a highlight of the production and the front soundstage really opens up the work. Surrounds are used effectively for mood and ambiance and add a bit to the action sequences. Overall a very strong effort from Sony.

Unfortunately no extras for this one.

I am a huge fan of Luc Besson and it is great to see more of his films getting released on Blu-ray. Now if only we could get Sony to release this one film about a girl and a hitman………