Point of No Return movie poster
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 the English 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. 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. 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, 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, 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
- 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
Development[]
Music[]
- "Wild is the Wind" by Nina Simone
- "Put A Little Sugar in My Bowl" by Nina Simone
- "Everglade" by Nina Simone
- "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone
- "Here Comes the Sun" by Nina Simone
- "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair" by Nina Simone
Reception[]
The movie has score of 53 in Metacritic, an aggregate of professional film reviews, which is listed as mixed/average. Rotten Tomatoes, another popular film aggregate site, has it listed at 52%.
The film opened in second to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III with a strong $7.1 million on 1,545 screens.[1] It grossed $30 million in the United States and Canada and $19.9 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $49.9 million.
Home Media[]
Video[]
Point of No Return - Trailer -1
Point of No Return theatrical trailer