Joel Newman I can't believe the glowing reviews; what do people see in this?To be fair; it has Bridgette Fonda (who's nice to look at). And it's got Harvey Kietel, but Hans Zimmer's music score's terrible. Music can make or break (like a hair cut); really; this film's hugely let down by the music; it's as though Hans Zimmer got some cutlery, put it into a tumble dryer and recorded the noise. Luc Besson's La Femme Nikita was stylish yet long, boring, depressing and overrated. Point of No Return (aka 'The Assassin') might've improved things if it wasn't for some lackluster action (especially the opening shootout - better in the original) and Hans Zimmer's awful, noise polluting score.

Mr-Fusion The first half of "Point of No Return" is the promise of a hard-hitting action movie that never quite delivers. It's a great premise - street-roaming loser being plucked into assassin training by the U.S. government - they gloss over the honing of her skills in favor of dwelling on her resistance to the program. Then there's the screen time devoted to her adjusting to a normal life, which means this movie tends to drag in places. The upside to this are the Anne Bancroft scenes, but she's just in charge of etiquette. There's no real tension until the New Orleans sniper hit, and that's seventy minutes into the movie. In its defense, between that last job and the arrival of The Cleaner, the movie does pick up from there. It's just a mild slog to get to that point.Credit where it's due, Bridget Fonda is well-suited to the role. She's got the physicality and the acting skills to pull off Nina's anxiety. She's a credible assassin, too. I mean, if I saw her in a restaurant, I'd find somewhere else to eat. But to be honest, I was walking into this hoping for more violent payoff.5/10

statuskuo I got a chance to re-visit this movie on blu-ray years of having watched it on film, then VHS, I can honestly say...what a rebirth.The set-up is almost a shot-by-shot remake...but BOY does John Badham do it right. I LOVE the look of this movie. This is the reason you shoot movie on film. And why it should also be shot in anamorphic. The transfer is crisp and clean and sharp as a tack. The black is true black. Digital black is AWFUL. The color and contrast is superb to anything the Alexa, Red, or Canon can accomplish. This is a fact. If you can't see it, you're blind.As for the content, it's not terrible re-do for America. The one thing that the original brought to it more succinctly is the clandestine international flair. This seemed a bit...odd. Sure there are covert operators here doing dirty deeds. But it's hard to believe Gabriel Byrne being one of them. Bridget Fonda does a decent job. She plays the tomboy well, however, the sleek sophisticate...not so much. At the time, she was perfect. By the trivia, it seems Halle Berry may've been too young, but a Jodie Foster would've made it much more intellectual.Was there a reason for the remake? Probably not. I recall having watched "Nikita" first, outraged they'd remake it. As I've gotten older, this version is fine.

jrawnw It's not bad but the French version (La Femme Nikita) is so much more intense, dark, better acted and really what this movie should be. The screenplays are almost identical so you don't need to watch both. The American version has no feeling to it, it might be all that cheesy rock guitar music in the background that you heard in allot of '80s flix. Bridget Fonda is fine but she is too cute to really be believable as this character. Everyone else in this just fills space including Harvey Keitel who plays The Cleaner, more like the robot. This is made like an '80s TV cop show, so if that's what you're looking for you hit the spot. If you want an intense well acted movie, watch La Femme Nikita, it's worth the subtitles, go watch that.