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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's a smart movie that knows its owner, August 20, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Black Cat (DVD)
Why is it so often the remakes of movies get the attention and accolades and it's not for some time afterward that the debt is attributed to the original? Such is the case with this film. Everybody went nuts for La Femme Nikita and thought Hollywood had the nerve to remake it as Point of No Return. They should have acknowledged this first and slapped both their hands. Maybe it's only because Hong Kong cinema is finally finding an audience that this title has surfaced. Though I like "La Femme" quite a bit, something in this version intrigued me more. Maybe it's because the heroine has greater inherant sadness and frailty about her, making the transformation all the more powerful. Anne Parlliaud is rough and tough from the get-go and merely seems to have had her natural criminality channeled into something acceptable (to the authorities anyway). The Black Cat seems to flow a bit steadier as well. I found my mind drifting a bit during La Femme when she begins to settle into a life of mayhem and finds it difficult to include a relationship into her routine. The production design in La Femme (the production values in general) are higher than those in The Black Cat, but Hong Kong cinema is not know for budet and this film performs admirably on significantly less. If you liked either of the remakes, give this a shot. It should satisfy on several levels.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Did you like La Femme Nakita?, June 29, 2001
This is the best in a series of Hong Kong attempts to [emulate] La Femme Nakita (titles of others are escaping me). Don't let this turn you off if you are thinking this is going to be like that horrible Hollywood Bridget Fonda vehicle- Hong Kong will always do it better. I have friends that say this is better than the original, but I wouldn't go that far. I believe this is Jade Leung's first major role and she is great. She is not only beautiful, but can act. She makes this movie. In fact they made a sequel of this film due to it's popularity in HK. Jade plays a Chinese-American who gets in a scrap at a truck stop and accidently kills a cop. She is then killed by assasins, or is she. The CIA has actually taken her, put a chip in her to enhance her physical prowess, and now she is an assasin for them. She falls in love along the way and ... The funny thing about this movie is that I think it was filmed entirely over seas, but the first half is suppossed to take place in the US. So the entire first half is in English, even parts where the story is in HK are in English. Otherwise the usual weird/absurd subtitle translations are in effect. Overall DVD quality is very good.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
different, March 18, 2000
This review is from: Black Cat (DVD)
Okay, it's a little annoying when people claim that Point of No Return was the second remake of La Femme Nikita. Black Cat was made in 1991 while Point was made in 1993. While Point was an almost blow by blow recreation of Nikita, Black Cat took the essential structure and gave it a different spin. Now, that's what I call a remake, what's the point of a blow by blow remake? Black Cat can never replace Nikita for me, I do think Nikata is a superior film. However, Black Cat has Jade and the film's biggest charm is the strength of the then newcomer to the movies. She brings a different intensity and understated fraility to the character. Not that Anne Parillaud was bad, she was very good, but she didn't make me want to go out there and watch every film she has ever made. Black Cat has nice action sequences courtesy of HK. It's focus is completely different from Nikita, it's more an action film then an exploration of what it feels to be trapped. There will be some of us who'll like, even love, Black Cat. There will be many who'll dislike it. There is a reason this film is called a cult classic not a classic. NOT everyone will like this film. Just bear in mind, if you intend to watch this film, watch it with an open mind and don't try and compare it with it's predecessor and you might see why Black Cat became a cult classic and Point of no Return didn't.
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