Summary:
The movie opens as a gang of punks, including Maggie (Bridget Fonda) is about to rip off a drug store so Maggie can get her fix. They are interrupted by one of their member's fathers and the police surround them and after a bloody shootout, Maggie is the only one left over. She is arrested, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to die. She freaks out through the execution yet after the injection she awakes to be told her death was faked and she now is being held by some government agency that wants to train her to be an agent. After a rocky start, and six months of training in weapons, hand-to-hand combat, computers, seduction, etiquette, and more, Maggie is unleashed on the world. She is given the alias of Claire and the codename of Nina and given assignments. She tries to get a life together and soon falls in love with JP (Dermont Mulroney). Her life seems to be going fine until the agency pushes one last assignment and then her trainer (Gabriel Byrne) will do his best to help her leave the agency. But the mission is harder than Maggie thought...
Critique:
As you can tell, if you (hopefully) read my review of "La Femme Nikita" this movie is a straight up remake with very very very little difference. Almost word for word Maggie is Nikita. That being said, the movie was pretty good. Moved pretty quickly and the acting was superb. The movie is basically a who's who of secondary actors as all the actors you've seen before (perhaps because Badham became the tv king in recent years) have small roles. And then the main roles are filled quite nicely with solid, big name actors. And then there's Ann Bancroft who delivers a solid performance as Maggie's only real friend in the agency, helping her find herself. The movie's biggest fault is simply that it is way way way too similar to the original, there is almost no innovation. But Besson's story rings true in this remake and Fonda is great as Maggie, sexy yet sympathetic, and deadly as ever.
Verdict:
If you had to choose between this and "Nikita," see this one.
If you liked this movie, watch...
...The Professional
...The Assignment
...Aeon Flux
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