Check it out if you've nothing else to do. A young woman, Maggie Hayward Bridget Fonda , is sentenced to death after murdering a policeman during a botched robbery. While awaiting trial she is approached by a government agent, Bob Gabriel Byrne , who wants her to join a top secret assassination team.
She doesn't cooperate and is executed She awakes to find herself an unwilling recruit for the government organisation. She still plays hard to get but eventually comes around.
With her training done, now she has to put it into practice - killing people, all while, on the surface, living a perfectly normal life. Follows the original script very closely, with some adaptations to US culture and audiences.
Doesn't have the same edgy, dark atmosphere that Nikita has and is thus more mainstream. Still, a good story, well made with some good action sequences. Solid work by Bridget Fonda in the lead role. Her transformation from anarchic, plain, tomboy junkie to cool, sophisticated, sexy killer is quite something to behold. Gabriel Byrne is great as Bob. Ferrer and Mulroney are so-so - Ferrer a bit too over- the-top and Mulroney a bit too stoner he seemed like he was in a Bill and Ted movie.
Bancroft gives a solid performance though. Most interesting performance was from Harvey Keitel. Not really for the performance, but for the character - Victor the Cleaner. He would reprise the role a year or so later, to much greater effect - playing The Wolf in Pulp Fiction. This movie is only average, and it's only even barely average. As an action movie, it's pretty weak. Only one actual shoot-out sequence, and too much Hollywood in the other action scenes; huge explosions, overuse of slow-motion, etc.
As a drama, it's very weak too. The drama doesn't really turn up in the movie before the second half, and after that, it's nearly constant.
You nearly forget that it is supposed to be an action-thriller. It got very boring after the charm of the first thirty minutes of the movie, and after that you pretty much just sit around, waiting for it to end. Which is very bad, even for a relatively bad movie, it should be able to keep your interest beyond the first fourth of the movie.
The only thing that kept me watching, was hoping for another shoot-out like the one early in the movie. That was the only thing the movie has going for it, that and the lines Fonda said.
Those were truly great; I don't think I've ever experienced that much provocation in a female role, and Fonda did a great job on that. However, I have no doubt that the original made by Luc Besson is better. So, if you want to see something like this, you should probably check it out instead of this. Fonda doesn't evoke much feeling and all the characters are unlikable, though Harvey Keitel's decent in the minor role as the cleaner.
HotToastyRag 26 September It's sentimental favorite time at Hot Toasty Rag. Point of No Return is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I've seen it hundreds of times. It used to be my Wednesday night ritual, since Wednesdays have always been my favorite day of the week, to pop in my VHS copy of the fantastic '90s thriller.
Imagine my incredible shock to find out, when looking over my course list, that one of my teachers was the director of my favorite movie! Now, I have a second DVD copy. My first one rests on my bookshelf, the cover signed by John Badham. I could talk for hours and I frequently do about Professor Badham's classes, the highlight of my entire college career.
But for the sake of this review it doesn't really matter that he dedicated a whole class to Point of No Return because he knew I loved it, or that he was kinder to me than anyone else at the entire school. Since I'd already watched the movie a hundred times before I met him, I'll just discuss the film itself. At the heart of the story is a woman who is stronger than she thinks. Bridget Fonda starts the movie on drugs, floundering around with a bad attitude and a bad crowd. After killing a cop during an armed robbery, she's given the death penalty.
After the lethal injection, she wakes up in a new room with a kind-looking Gabriel Byrne smiling at her. If she refuses to cooperate, she'll be killed and placed right where everyone thinks she already is. Secret agent training begins, with lessons in martial arts, elocution, posture, table manners, shooting, and computer skills. It's very fun to see a computer, just as it's a relief to watch a movie without constant text messaging from smart phones.
When Bridget gets a message for an upcoming mission, it's from a telephone call on her landline! She never opens up an email to read, but instead gets documents hand-delivered to her back door. If you think that sounds out-of-date and suspenseful, you've got a big surprise in store for you. A call from her landline phone is very suspenseful, because she's in the middle of a smooching session with her boyfriend and isn't given the warning of caller-ID before she picks up.
When Gabriel Byrne shows up at her back door, it's particularly menacing because he's delivering documents as well as a warning of what will happen to her if she doesn't complete her assignment. In one of my favorite of her performances, Anne Bancroft delivers some sage advice while training Bridget in elegance.
It relaxes others, and it lifts the features of the face. She drops her smile and calm demeanor and shows she's strong and aggressive underneath it all. Whenever life isn't going my way, I remember one of my favorite scenes and quote Anne Bancroft with a smile: "I never did mind the little things.
In one scene, Gabriel Byrne takes her out to dinner, and she mistakenly thinks he's being sweet and romantic. Champagne is ordered, she's wearing a brand-new dress, she squeezes his hand - and then he gives her a present.
Inside the box is a gun, and he whispers instructions for the assassination she must complete. In the other, she's enjoying a romantic getaway during Mardi Gras with her boyfriend, Dermot Mulroney. She's just ordered room service when the hotel phone rings. She pretends it's room service with an update on her order, but it's instructions for another assassination. She disappears to the bathroom with a rouse of taking a bubble bath, but instead, she finds a rifle hidden in a compartment and takes aim through the window.
They're both very tense scenes, and they both illustrate precisely why I love the movie. When you think you're at the top, life can turn sour on an unexpected moment's notice. You've got to do what Bridget Fonda does: take the gun and complete the mission. Just kidding; but you know what I mean. If passed you by, you've got to get yourself a copy of Point of No Return. Watching it once won't be enough. You might not make it your Wednesday night ritual for years, but whenever you're feeling like life beat you down, you'll be drawn to this fantastic action movie with a beautiful leading lady, a great soundtrack full of Nina Simone tunes, and Plus, after reading my review, you'll have the knowledge that not only did the director masterfully handle the timing, illustrate the 'master shot', and keep the suspense during a mixture of action, romantic, and dramatic scenes, but he's also one of the nicest men you'll ever meet.
And keep an eye out for him bringing in the room service cart! I always wave at the screen and shout out a hello. This is a very well done action thriller. Instead of crazy stunts and too much violence - you feel the tension from empathy with the heroine played to perfection by Bridget Fonda.
Bridget is slim and elegant and the transformation is quite fun to watch. It's like watching a supermodel action star. Supporting cast are really well cast. Anne Bancroft makes a brief but memorable appearance. Gabriel Byrne adds some stature. Dermot Mulroney is charming. Harvey Keitel is effectively chilling. The Nina Simone songs are great background. The score is atmospheric too. This is a keeper. Wuchakk 13 January There's also a Hong Kong version made in called "Black Cat. As such, this review will be based solely on the merits of "Point of No Return" itself which isn't necessarily a bad thing since fans of original films tend to be excessively critical of remakes.
There's a 'burial' but she mysteriously wakes up in a secret governmental institution and is offered the opportunity to live; the catch is that she must now perform the government's dirty work as an assassin.
She spends numerous months learning the skills and social graces necessary. There she discovers normalcy compared to her past life and love. The consequence of becoming whole and civilized is that Nina develops a conscience and comes to resent being a nasty tool of the government. Unfortunately her controller Gabriel Byrne informs her that there is no 'out' and dissenters automatically get a bullet in the brain.
Chloe Bailey is a whole embarrassment. How are you celebrating Blackness and freedom by acting like a low class whore on stage singing Nina Simone? Just disrespectful I fear.
Now ChloeBailey ion know if Nina was singing about twerking But go head on Chile pic. How the hell this girl manage to sexualize a freedom song SoulofaNation ChloeBailey misunderstood the assignment. Regardless of how Nina would have felt about it. There's a time and a place for everything.
Exact same thing at a different occasion and I wouldn't bat an eye but not for this. So disrespectful to the Black woman who used her voice to lift up our community. ChloeBailey NinaSimone. Oddly, I think Chloe Bailey's dance moves during her cover of Nina Simone's Feeling Good actually fit cause I always thought that this song carried a kind of sensual vibe to it, and Chloe's dancing actually makes me feel less awkward.
Nina was very sex positive and literally did photoshoots with her cooch out. She went on to record more than 40 albums between and Be sure to listen to our Nina Simone Essentials playlist on Spotify. Link in bio! In honor of the arduous activism that Simone displayed, here is a list of moving civil rights anthems, performed by Nina Simone.
First of all, Nina Simone rose to fame in the 60s as race relations heightened. It was only a matter of time until she would use her musical talents as a forthright storytelling mechanism for activism. Simone first experienced racism at a concert at age Thus, she saw the world through the eyes of young people.
Moreover, she cited this incident as to why she would later join the civil rights movement. The lyrics to this next song are also inspired by a written body of work. Loaded Gun. Skin Against Skin. Beverly Klass. Chinese Burn. Steve Clark. Hanging on a Curtain. Mark Sandman.
Styles Soundtracks TV Music. Trippy Stylish. Late Night. Main Title Mark Snow. The Love Thieves Martin Gore.
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