Anna

I would say this film is such a Best Of Luc Besson. A strong heroine, her strong story, some humor, twists and turns aplenty (which give the story an original telling), a stylish atmosphere with typical Eric Serra music, and when it comes to the action, you know you'll want to watch The Professionalnext. Sasha Luss is not only easy on the eye, and a cool killing machine, I surprisingly trusted her as much as I did the regular girl (which is a big difference from Milla Jovovich), but Helen Mirren was absolutely stunning, clearly enjoying her commanding role. The only thing that distracted me – and this is something Besson and Co. could have been careful about – was the use of fairly modern technology in the late eighties and early nineties. Cell phones I might still accept, but laptops and USB drives are too much – it's a shame, because if this had been honest retro with all the trimmings, the film would have been even better. (31/08/2019)

I’ll be honest, this was kind of a silly film. Although Luc Besson finetuned his style, and it was even entertaining, it was also disarmingly dumb. Given my yesterday’s rating of Ready or Not, I must admit I seem to have a soft spot for anorexics with a titanium jaw and an impressive body count. Anyway, I had a good time watching and didn’t have to worry about getting bored for even a second. I noticed that Luc Besson didn’t hesitate to rip off his own Nikita in some scenes, and that Helen Mirren’s character didn’t need to wear leather boots to make it obvious that she was working for KGB. (07/01/2020)

It's not overwrought, it's just completely stupid. Plus, I simply don't give a damn about these sharp girls with anorexic body constitutions that would make their arms heavy even with a toothpick in their palms, and yet they're getting it on with a plethora of jacked-up bodyguards. Besson is already a parody of himself, but Europa Corp. is giving him work, so why would he change it. (29/09/2019)

An action B-movie about a KGB assassin who must unleash a secret service war to win her freedom. And the whole thing is unfortunately mediocre fun at best. Two good action scenes and a seductive Sasha Luss in the lead role can't hide the fact that it's all surprisingly stupid and ultimately not very entertaining. (27/08/2019)

At the end of Besson's La Femme Nikita, Tchéky Kario smilingly announces to her boyfriend that they're going to miss the girl and he just takes an unhappy drag from his cigarette, nods his head and looks out the window in response. And I kind of think that despite all this, this is how we're going to talk about Luc Besson when it all falls apart, Europa Corp goes bankrupt, and he himself goes into images of the past. Because as much as we may freak out about the lack of logic, the lack of a coherent plot, the attempt to disguise the awful digital imagery, the completely incomprehensible anachronisms (for at least the second time with Besson, I feel like he decided on the period when the film would be set no earlier than in post-production), or the lack of dramaturgy, we still have to remember that this is the price we pay today for watching some of the last of the West’s auteur action films. Moreover, in this case, Besson takes a ways further his torch of the Cinéma du look movement, which worked with a distinctive advertising aesthetic, among other things. Indeed, everything here is completely secondary to the product Besson is interested in – the three-foot, thirty-pound and, in the action scenes, utterly breathtaking Sasha Luss. That's why the only things that work in the film are the things she touches, and only because she’s the one touching them. The resulting Gaussian curve, where we are moved from irritating civilian scenes to the best action sequences of the year, is probably best expressed in the words of Milan Vébro, director of Settlement of Crows 2: "It was great! It was terrible." (19/11/2019)