History Film / Nikita

* SpiritualSuccessor:
** [[https://www.popmatters.com/la-femme-nikita-special-dvd-2496254835.html Pop Matters notes]] that Nikita is "gifted, complicated, and tough-minded, a lively precursor for [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]] or Sydney in ''Series/{{Alias}}'', even Trinity in ''Film/TheMatrix''."
** A more direct example is ''Film/TheProfessional'' which also has a young woman training to become an assassin and a ruthless "cleaner" portrayed by Creator/JeanReno.

* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler:In ''Point of No Return'', this applies to both the Division higher-ups, and Victor the cleaner. In the original film, the Division's decision to send the AxCrazy Victor to "clean things up" was highly questionable, and Victor immediately began making an even bigger mess of things, but despite his stupid and bloodthirsty actions, he did end up escaping with Nikita and ensuring she made it out alive. In the remake, some of Victor's ruthless actions become even more reprehensible (for instance, he originally killed his own teammate for shooting at him first, while in the remake he just murders her in cold blood), and he's under direct orders to murder Maggie after she finishes the job, leading to them violently clashing in the climax.]]

* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler:In ''Point of No Return'', this applies to both the Division higher-ups, and Victor the cleaner. In the original film, the Division's decision to send the AxCrazy Victor to "clean things up" was highly questionable, and Victor immediately began making an even bigger mess of things, but even despite his stupid and bloodthirsty actions, he did end up escaping with Nikita and ensuring she made it out alive. In the remake, some of Victor's ruthless actions become even more reprehensible (for instance, he originally killed his own teammate for shooting at him first, while in the remake he just murders her in cold blood), and he's under direct orders to murder Maggie after she finishes the job, leading to them violently clashing in the climax.]]

* RareGuns: Nikita uses a Beretta 93R on a target range when she's being trained as an assassin. She states that she's used one before, but "never on paper."

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Nikita (Creator/AnneParillaud) is a young Parisian junkie, who along with her friends holds up a pharmacy and ends up killing a police officer. She is arrested, tried, and sentenced to life in prison, where she's drugged and then wakes up to be told she's been declared LegallyDead from "lethal injection" and now has two options: let them do the job for real, or accept recruitment into a new life working for a shadowy government agency. Where she will be taught how to be a lady, how to be a spy, and how to be an assassin--all in the service of her country.

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''Nikita'' is a 1990 French film written and directed by Creator/LucBesson. Released in America as ''La Femme Nikita'' (just so everyone would understand it is in French).

Nikita (Creator/AnneParillaud) is a young junkie who (along with her friends) holds up a pharmacy and ends up killing a police officer. She's arrested and sentenced to life in prison, but before heading there is then given a choice of a new secret life. A life working for a shadowy government agency. She will be taught how to kill, how to be a lady, how to be a spy, all in the service of her country.

Remade in Hong Kong as ''Film/BlackCat'' (1991) with Jade Leung (as Catherine) and in America as ''Point of No Return'' (1993) with Creator/BridgetFonda in the Nikita role. There have been two television adaptations so far: ''Series/LaFemmeNikita'' with Peta Wilson and ''Series/{{Nikita}}'' with Creator/MaggieQ.

* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler:In ''Point of No Return'', this applies to both the Division higher-ups, and even ''Victor the cleaner''. In the original film, the Division's decision to send the AxCrazy Victor to "clean things up" was highly questionable, and Victor immediately began making an even bigger mess of things, but even despite his stupid and bloodthirsty actions, he did end up escaping with Nikita and ensuring she made it out alive. In the remake, some of Victor's ruthless actions become even more reprehensible (for instance, he originally killed his own teammate for shooting at him first, while in the remake he just murders her in cold blood), and he's under direct orders to murder Maggie after she finishes the job, leading to them violently clashing in the climax.]]

* StupidEvil: Victor's actions end up causing nothing but trouble for Nikita's operation, to the point that it's a wonder how he was ever employed at all. He immediately moves to dissolving the bodies of the targets in acid, including one who wasn't actually dead because they hadn't been ordered to kill him (which he'd have learned had he ''taken a moment to actually discuss the situation'', as Nikita and her partner asked him to). This results in the situation escalating and Victor gunning down his own teammate, and violently threatening Nikita ''not'' to report to her superiors. After she goes to the embassy to collect the documents and try and resolve the rest of the operation quietly, Victor ''again'' escalates things by gunning down all the guards who were starting to get suspicious, and ends up escaping with Nikita as their car is being riddled with bullets, culminating in his death.

* StupidEvil: Victor's actions end up causing nothing but trouble for Nikita's operation, to the point that it's a wonder how he was ever employed at all. He immediately moves to dissolving the bodies of the targets in acid, including one who wasn't actually dead because they hadn't been ordered to kill him (which he'd have learned had he ''taken a moment to actually discuss the situation'', as Nikita and her partner asked him to). This results in the situation escalating and Victor gunning down his own teammate, and violently threatening Nikita ''not'' to report in the situation. After she goes to the embassy to collect the documents and try and resolve the rest of the operation quietly, Victor ''again'' escalates things by gunning down all the guards who were starting to get suspicious, and ends up escaping with Nikita as their car is being riddled with bullets, culminating in his death.

* PragmaticVillainy: Victor is such a complete aversion that one can't help wondering how the hell he got to be employed by the government at all.

* ContractOnTheHitman: [[spoiler:Nikita becomes a liability for the Division after a botched job. They send their "cleaner" to salvage it and when he gets killed, half of the organization is after the girl]].

* LoveRedeems: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]], as there's no redemption involved. However, Marco's love for Nikita subtly but profoundly transforms her into a better person than even before she entered an assassin training program.