MovieChat Forums > Little Nikita (1988) Discussion > Could have been much better if only...

Could have been much better if only...

posted 15 years ago by bljdwalker-1
8 replies | jump to latest

Could have been much better if only the climax had been more believable.
Out of respect to the actors I don't want to criticize this movie too much.
Just watched this last night with the family. We all felt the climactic points were contrived and not entertaining.
This movie tried to walk a line between being a serious crime thriller and a Disney-ish TV movie.
Still, it would have succeeded if the payoff had been more satisfying.
I'd be curious to know if the original script didn't have more money built into the climax and at least gave the characters something to do.

-- Too many kindergarten kids are making movies!--

[–] filmbuff1974 15 years ago

It was somewhat contrived, however, the movie was better than I remember it. The movie has dated much better than many films released that year (1988).

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[–] bruno-32 13 years ago

I just saw this movie and was wondering what Alfred Hitchcock would have done with it? Obviously, better than this...it was an interesting tale. The ending did not suit me at all ...at the least, not be told what would or did happen to the parents as far as punishment by the USA government. A scene that confused me, was how did the Russian spy wind up in Sidney's home, where he met Jeff, the son and took him hostage.

[–] filmbuff1974 13 years ago

Lol, it almost seems absurd to mention Alfred Hitchcock in relation to this movie. Alfred Hitchcock was a genius and probably would have passed on directing this if he'd been asked (I think he had already passed on). But I get your point, there was enough ingredients available that if the director or editor had had a margin of skill on the level of a Alfred Hitchcock, this movie would have been one hundred percent better.

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[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] PrometheusTree64 11 years ago

River was great, naturally.

And one wants to like this movie, but the climax is indeed muddled. And the thing is just too wrong-headed in a Reagan Era let's-pretend-the-Ruskies-are-still-our-biggest-problem kind of '80s way.

--
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[–] praxistens848 11 years ago

Well, w/ the fine cast, you sure do wanna like this movie, but Nikita plays like Cold War opera written by DoD accountants & political appointees: hit the wickets; move on.

Identity theft subplot? In Day of the Jackal, we're shown character combing thru public records: his deadie's gotta be just so. (Cops then follow same pattern to discover identity.)

In Nikita, character tells us parents got names from tombstones during a cemetery roadside stop or some such hokum; dir. Benjamin---hey, movie buffs: Ali McGraw's suitor in Goodbye, Columbus---hopes we buy that. No, I don't.

[–] ItsEddieHaskellBeyotch 11 years ago

The acting performances are on point but the film itself just feels like something much older, like from Sidney's 1960s heyday.

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[–] spookyrat1 11 years ago

"Out of respect to the actors I don't want to criticize this movie too much."

The acting was arguably the best part of this movie. Sidney Poitier, Richard Jenkins and Caroline Kava brought much needed gravitas to their roles and River Phoenix provided the teenage angst on cue.

"This movie tried to walk a line between being a serious crime thriller and a Disney-ish TV movie."

I'd probably go along with that, but Jenkins and Kava did generate plenty of sympathy for the predicament in which their characters found themselves.