Nikita: 35 Years On

Luc Besson’s influential thriller may be slightly dated style over substance, but it’s still slickly entertaining

Credit: Gaumont

Warning: Contains spoilers

Luc Besson isn’t a director I have a great deal of enthusiasm for these days. However, I became something of a devotee of his earlier work as a student following the release of his cracking 1990 thriller Nikita. This film, its predecessor, the deliriously romantic The Big Blue (1988), and the controversial but brilliant Leon (1994) became a Besson holy trinity for my younger self, with cult sci-fi gem The Fifth Element (1997) added as a post-graduation afterthought. Having not watched Nikita in at least three decades, I picked up a Blu-Ray to revisit it for the 35th anniversary, wondering whether halcyon student memories had misled me. Would the film hold up?