Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Point of No Return

 

Point of No Return is an action-thriller from 1993 directed by John Badham and starring Bridget Fonda, Gabriel Bryne, Dermot Mulroney, Anne Bancroft, Miguel Ferrer, and Harvey Keitel. This is one of a few different adaptations of the French film La Femme Nikita. The most notable, at least in the US, was the series that aired on The CW called Nikita and starred Maggie Q. There was also a TV series called La Femme Nikita, which aired on the USA network years ago. This is the only American film adaptation of that story. It stars Bridget Fonda as Maggie Hayward, a teenage delinquent who kills a security guard during a robbery and is sentenced to death. Her death is faked by a government agency, and she is given the choice to be trained as an assassin or killed. Needless to say, she chooses the former, and the remainder of the film deals with her training and then assimilation into "real" life as she tries to balance having a normal life with being called for assassination missions.

The Blu-Ray's A/V transfer is okay, but it definitely did not get a high-quality restoration. It definitely looks like it is a 1993 movie and not brought up to par with even the late 90s/early 2000s AV quality. There are no bonus features to speak of, just the theatrical trailer. Overall, it is a decent movie that you can totally have on in the background and get the story.  Even with a loaded cast, the film is definitely not as good as it could have been. The writing was okay to decent, but not stellar, and while I would not say that any of the actors seemed to be phoning their performances in, they have all done better work. It is not a movie that you need to pay rapt attention to in order to follow along. Fonda did a good job in the leading role, and I think, had she chosen to do so, she could have really used the role to propel herself into a more extensive career. I would not call it a must-see movie, but it is a good choice if you are looking for an action movie to kill a couple of hours.