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Point of No Return (film)
Encyclopedia
Point of No Return is a 1993 American action film
directed by John Badham
and starring Bridget Fonda
. It is a remake
of Luc Besson
's 1990 film
Nikita.
) is a drug addict
found guilty of murdering a police officer, and is sentenced to death
by lethal injection
. However, her death is faked, and a secret government agent named Bob (Gabriel Byrne
) informs her that she is to become an operative
. Maggie, having little choice, agrees to cooperate and she begins a regimen of intensive training that includes etiquette
and computer use.
Operative Amanda (Anne Bancroft
) transforms her into a refined, beautiful woman. She is taken on a dinner date with Bob, who informs her about the first job: an assassination of a VIP eating at the same restaurant. Maggie completes the task, and escapes pursuit by fleeing down a laundry chute. This task was her final test, and she has now completed her training.
The following morning she leaves for Venice, California, where she enters into a romantic relationship with apartment house manager J.P. (Dermot Mulroney
). While her first assignments, both hit jobs, are ultimately successful, Maggie quickly comes to hate her work and tries to quit her job as a professional killer. As things progress between her and J.P., she asks for help in leaving the agency. Her request is denied, but Bob agrees to get her out of the agency if she completes the next task.
The new job is to masquerade as Angela (Olivia d'Abo
), the girlfriend of Fahd Bakhtiar (Richard Romanus
), an Iran
ian trading in nuclear weapons. However, taking out Angela proves problematic and results in the deaths of Angela's two bodyguards and the injury of Maggie's partner, Beth (Lorraine Toussaint
). Director Kaufman then sends in Victor, a 'cleaner' (Harvey Keitel
) to get rid of the bodies. Unknown to Maggie, however, he has also been ordered to kill both agents as well. After killing the wounded Beth in front of Maggie, he drives her to Fahd's home. At gunpoint she gets Fahd to unlock his computer and reveal his secrets, but he avoids execution and she is forced to flee.
As they purportedly drive back to her residence, Maggie sees a gun in Victor's waistband and correctly suspects he's going to kill her. This leads to a struggle and the car spins out of control. Finally, Victor is dragged over a ravine and killed. Maggie makes her way back to her apartment, but leaves sometime during the night. Bob subsequently learns of her disappearance from J.P. As Bob is leaving, he sees Maggie watching him through the mist. Instead of reporting her, though, he calls Kaufman and informs him, after some hesitation, that the cleaner and Maggie are both dead.
, who gave the original Nikita three and a half stars out of four, gave Return three stars, saying: "Point of No Return is actually a fairly effective and faithful adaptation and Bridget Fonda manages the wild identity swings of her role with intensity and conviction, although not the same almost poetic sadness that Anne Parillaud
brought to the original movie. If I didn't feel the same degree of involvement with Point of No Return that I did with Nikita it may be because the two movies are so similar in plot, look, and feel. I had déjà vu all through the movie. There are a few changes, mostly not for the better. By making the heroine's boyfriend a photographer this time instead of a checkout clerk, the movie loses the poignancy of their relationship; Nikita liked her clerk precisely because he was completely lacking in aggression."
/songwriter
Nina Simone
. Throughout the movie, various songs of Nina's are used.
Together with the earlier re-release of "My Baby Just Cares for Me
" in 1982, the movie helped bring Nina Simone back into the public limelight and made her better known with a younger audience.
The film score was composed by Hans Zimmer
with contributions by Nick Glennie-Smith
.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
directed by John Badham
John Badham
- External links :...
and starring Bridget Fonda
Bridget Fonda
Bridget Jane Fonda is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in films such as The Godfather Part III, Single White Female, Point of No Return, It Could Happen to You, and Jackie Brown...
. It is a remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of Luc Besson
Luc Besson
Luc Besson is a French film director, writer, and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer.-Early life:...
's 1990 film
French films of 1990
A list of films produced in France in 1990.-1990:-External links:* at the Internet Movie Database**...
Nikita.
Plot
Maggie Hayward (Bridget FondaBridget Fonda
Bridget Jane Fonda is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in films such as The Godfather Part III, Single White Female, Point of No Return, It Could Happen to You, and Jackie Brown...
) is a drug addict
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
found guilty of murdering a police officer, and is sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
by lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
. However, her death is faked, and a secret government agent named Bob (Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel Byrne
Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londo's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the...
) informs her that she is to become an operative
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
. Maggie, having little choice, agrees to cooperate and she begins a regimen of intensive training that includes etiquette
Etiquette
Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...
and computer use.
Operative Amanda (Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....
) transforms her into a refined, beautiful woman. She is taken on a dinner date with Bob, who informs her about the first job: an assassination of a VIP eating at the same restaurant. Maggie completes the task, and escapes pursuit by fleeing down a laundry chute. This task was her final test, and she has now completed her training.
The following morning she leaves for Venice, California, where she enters into a romantic relationship with apartment house manager J.P. (Dermot Mulroney
Dermot Mulroney
-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
). While her first assignments, both hit jobs, are ultimately successful, Maggie quickly comes to hate her work and tries to quit her job as a professional killer. As things progress between her and J.P., she asks for help in leaving the agency. Her request is denied, but Bob agrees to get her out of the agency if she completes the next task.
The new job is to masquerade as Angela (Olivia d'Abo
Olivia d'Abo
Olivia d'Abo is an English actress and singer-songwriter, best known for portraying Karen Arnold in The Wonder Years and Nicole Wallace, the recurring villain in Law & Order: Criminal Intent.-Acting career:...
), the girlfriend of Fahd Bakhtiar (Richard Romanus
Richard Romanus
Richard Romanus is an American actor of Lebanese descent. Among other roles, he has appeared in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, and provided voices for Ralph Bakshi's animated films Wizards and Hey Good Lookin'. He played Lorraine Bracco's ex-husband, later husband again, in three episodes of The...
), an Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian trading in nuclear weapons. However, taking out Angela proves problematic and results in the deaths of Angela's two bodyguards and the injury of Maggie's partner, Beth (Lorraine Toussaint
Lorraine Toussaint
Lorraine Toussaint is an actress best known for starring alongside Annie Potts in Any Day Now.Toussaint graduated from Manhattan's School of Performing Arts in 1978, before going on to graduate from Juilliard School...
). Director Kaufman then sends in Victor, a 'cleaner' (Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
) to get rid of the bodies. Unknown to Maggie, however, he has also been ordered to kill both agents as well. After killing the wounded Beth in front of Maggie, he drives her to Fahd's home. At gunpoint she gets Fahd to unlock his computer and reveal his secrets, but he avoids execution and she is forced to flee.
As they purportedly drive back to her residence, Maggie sees a gun in Victor's waistband and correctly suspects he's going to kill her. This leads to a struggle and the car spins out of control. Finally, Victor is dragged over a ravine and killed. Maggie makes her way back to her apartment, but leaves sometime during the night. Bob subsequently learns of her disappearance from J.P. As Bob is leaving, he sees Maggie watching him through the mist. Instead of reporting her, though, he calls Kaufman and informs him, after some hesitation, that the cleaner and Maggie are both dead.
Cast
- Bridget FondaBridget FondaBridget Jane Fonda is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in films such as The Godfather Part III, Single White Female, Point of No Return, It Could Happen to You, and Jackie Brown...
as Maggie Hayward/Claudia Anne Doran/Nina - Gabriel ByrneGabriel ByrneGabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined Londo's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the...
as Bob - Miguel FerrerMiguel FerrerMiguel José Ferrer is an American actor and voice actor who is often cast as a villain. His notable roles include Bob Morton, a supporting character in RoboCop , the short tempered FBI agent Albert Rosenfield in Twin Peaks, and Dr...
as Kaufman - Dermot MulroneyDermot Mulroney-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...
as J.P. - Anne BancroftAnne BancroftAnne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....
as Amanda - Harvey KeitelHarvey KeitelHarvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
as Victor - Olivia d'AboOlivia d'AboOlivia d'Abo is an English actress and singer-songwriter, best known for portraying Karen Arnold in The Wonder Years and Nicole Wallace, the recurring villain in Law & Order: Criminal Intent.-Acting career:...
as Angela - Richard RomanusRichard RomanusRichard Romanus is an American actor of Lebanese descent. Among other roles, he has appeared in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, and provided voices for Ralph Bakshi's animated films Wizards and Hey Good Lookin'. He played Lorraine Bracco's ex-husband, later husband again, in three episodes of The...
as Fahd Bakhtiar - Geoffrey Lewis as Drugstore owner
- Michael RapaportMichael RapaportMichael David Rapaport is an American, actor, director and a comedian. He has acted in more than forty films since the early 1990s...
as Big Stan - John BadhamJohn Badham- External links :...
as Room service waiter
Reception
The film grossed approximately $30,038,362 in the US and received mixed reviews. Film critic Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, who gave the original Nikita three and a half stars out of four, gave Return three stars, saying: "Point of No Return is actually a fairly effective and faithful adaptation and Bridget Fonda manages the wild identity swings of her role with intensity and conviction, although not the same almost poetic sadness that Anne Parillaud
Anne Parillaud
Anne Parillaud is a French actress, who has appeared in 30 films since 1977.She is best known internationally for her role as Nikita in the movie of the same name.-Biography:...
brought to the original movie. If I didn't feel the same degree of involvement with Point of No Return that I did with Nikita it may be because the two movies are so similar in plot, look, and feel. I had déjà vu all through the movie. There are a few changes, mostly not for the better. By making the heroine's boyfriend a photographer this time instead of a checkout clerk, the movie loses the poignancy of their relationship; Nikita liked her clerk precisely because he was completely lacking in aggression."
Soundtrack
Maggie/Claudia has a fascination for the singer/pianistPianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
/songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
. Throughout the movie, various songs of Nina's are used.
- "Here Comes the SunHere Comes the Sun"Here Comes the Sun" is a song by George Harrison from The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road. It is regarded as one of the most popular Beatles songs. The song was written while Harrison was away from all of these troubles...
" - "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl"
- "Feeling GoodFeeling Good"Feeling Good" is a song written by English singer-songwriters Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the 1965 musical The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd starring Cy Grant, who sang the original version of the song...
" - "Wild Is the WindWild Is the Wind (song)"Wild Is the Wind" is a song written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington. The track was originally recorded by Johnny Mathis for the 1957 film Wild Is the Wind...
" - "Black Is the Color (Of My True Love's Hair)"
Together with the earlier re-release of "My Baby Just Cares for Me
My Baby Just Cares for Me
"My Baby Just Cares for Me" is a jazz standard written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was written for the 1930 film version of the 1928 Ziegfeld musical comedy Whoopee!, starring Eddie Cantor. It is known as the signature tune of singer and pianist Nina Simone.-Nina Simone...
" in 1982, the movie helped bring Nina Simone back into the public limelight and made her better known with a younger audience.
The film score was composed by Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...
with contributions by Nick Glennie-Smith
Nick Glennie-Smith
Nick Glennie-Smith is a film composer whose most prominent work is a collaboration with Hans Zimmer on the score to the 1996 action film The Rock as well as work on the 1993 drama Point of No Return...
.