I think we all have the right to voice our opinion, so do you "smelton" and so does "BishopLord". I don't think anyone can claim they are the (only) representative of good taste.
You wrote: "...La Femme Nikita is recognized as a great film by reviewers everywhere, and likewise Point of No Return is recognized as a poor remake."
Can you back up that claim with some facts?
The REALLY BAD American remakes are stuff like "Three Men and a Baby" (After "Three Men and a Cradle") and "Cousins" (After "Cousin,Cousine"). They are remade so very mainstream and politically correct.
Anyway, as for my own point of view, as is probably obvious when reading the above, I usually do NOT like remakes at all, and Point of No Return is one of the very few exceptions where I actually really liked the remake (even though I actually saw the original first).
As for Bridget Fonda, do not underestimate her: she did not make a "mistake" by doing this movie. Who says she signed up for artistic reasons? I make choices all the time in my own job, sometimes, what I have created is very artistic and something I am proud of, at other times it is just bread and butter .... Bridget got THE main part in a big budget movie, a lot of publicity and attention (and I hope for her a lot of money). That is not necessarily a mistake. And she beat some of the top actresses in Hollywood on the finishing line for the race for this part.
Here is a quote from the production notes: 'Because the role of Maggie is such a powerful and complex female character, many of Hollywood's top actresses clamored for the chance to take it on. "It was the most wonderful thing," exclaims Badham, "I could choose from just about anybody; women were excited by this role.
"I was interested in Bridget specifically because of her vulnerability. It would have been too easy to choose an actress who plays tough. Instead, I was interested in taking a person who had an inside vulnerability and letting her be tough on the outside."
In my own opinion, this is one of the fine changes in the remake. In the original, Anne Parillaud's character was not as versatile. She was generally a rough person, and the change from the beginning of the movie to the end was not as big as in the American version. Fonda's character was much more complex and interesting to watch for me when it came to that development ... but maybe not that realistic a development (but it's just a movie...)
I previously posted a link to an interview where Bridget mentions the thoughts she had about this movie and about Luc Besson [even he liked her performance in the remake of his movie]. Here it is again:
http://www.joblo.com/interviewfonda.htm
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Kit_Carruthers
19 years ago
All I hear is talk about Fonda and her performance, what about EVERYTHING ELSE???
The style of the original is so much better than this silly remake. The action in Point of No Return was filmed badly. Too many stupid slo-mo's at wrong places which ruined the tension. Besson is a better fimmaker than Badham by a mile.
Also, the character of the cleaner was handled quite well by Keitel but don't anybody tell me that he was better than Jean Reno - I *beep* loved him in Nikita.
The original is leaps and bounds over the remake (which is just for lazy Americans who won't read in the cinema)
She shivers in the wind, like the last leaf of a dying tree.
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