Point of No Return

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Point of No Return
US release poster
Directed by	John Badham
Produced by	Art Linson D.J. Caruso
Written by	Robert Getchell Alexandra Seros
Starring	Bridget Fonda Gabriel Byrne Dermot Mulroney Anne Bancroft Harvey Keitel
Music by	Hans Zimmer Nick Glennie-Smith
Cinematography	Michael Ferris Michael Watkins
Editing by	Frank Morriss
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	March 19, 1993 (1993-03-19)
Running time	101 minutes 108 minutes (US)
Language	English French
Box office	$30,038,362

Point of No Return (also known as The Assassin) 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.

Plot

Maggie Hayward (Bridget Fonda) 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 the man's bodyguards, 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 Iranian 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 and salvage the mission. Unknown to Maggie, however, he has also been ordered to kill both agents as well because one failure results in death. 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 Fonda as Maggie Hayward/Claudia Anne Doran/Nina
• Gabriel Byrne as Bob
• Dermot Mulroney as J.P.
• Anne Bancroft as Amanda
• Harvey Keitel as Victor
• Miguel Ferrer as Kaufman
• Olivia d'Abo as Angela
• Richard Romanus as Fahd Bakhtiar
• Geoffrey Lewis as Drugstore owner
• Michael Rapaport as Big Stan
• John Badham as Room service waiter

Reception

The film grossed approximately $30,038,362 in the US and received mixed reviews. Film critic Roger Ebert, who gave the original Nikita three and a half stars out of four,^[1] 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."^[2] Point of No Return currently holds a 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 22 reviews.

Box office

The movie debuted at No. 2 at the box office.^[3]

Soundtrack

Maggie/Claudia has a fascination for the singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone. Throughout the movie, various songs of Nina's are used.

• "Here Comes the Sun"
• "I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl"
• "Feeling Good"
• "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" 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.

See also

• Assassinations in fiction

References

External links

• Point of No Return at the Internet Movie Database
• Point of No Return at the TCM Movie Database
• Point of No Return at AllRovi
• Point of No Return at Box Office Mojo
• Point of No Return at Rotten Tomatoes
• Stembridge Auction Report, Part 7: Hero Pistol – Point of No Return