ianlouisiana
Irritating All - American Air Force recruit discovers his parents have a dark secret.They are Soviet "sleeper" agents,infiltrated into the U.S. twenty years earlier but never called upon until other "Sleepers" start turning up dead.Elderly FBI agent uses him to entrap a maverick Russian hit-man.Hard to say whether "Little Nikita" was aimed at the potential audience of irritating young All - Americans who might identify with the late Mr River Pheonix or the retirees who would root for Mr Sidney Poitier. Comic Book Russians flood San Diego to stop their "sleepers" from being assassinated,but are failing dismally until the FBI - in the form of "deniable" Mr Poitier - become involved. He is a frisky 60 -odd,still able to bed the local school Principal whilst wearing his underpants in case of unexpected visitors,a propitious action in the event as young Mr Pheonix bursts in on them in flagrante. In the era of Reagan - Gorbachov "Glasnost" Mr Poitier and his Comic Book Russian counterpart warily reach out and settle the problem without causing a Diplomatic Incident by hurriedly smuggling the villain across the Mexican border.Phew!That was a close call. Presumably the irritating Young All - American's Pinko - Commie illegal immigrant parents get a free pass because that's the way it is in California,folks. "Little Nikita" is not exciting,it's not funny,it just....well, "is"..I suppose.You watch it,there's a "yeah,well..." shrugging moment and you carry on worrying about when Russia is going to cut off gas supplies to the European Union.The Bear's claws may have been blunted but there's more than one way to skin a cat,Comrades.
johnny-08
"Little Nikita" is just another thriller with one difference. It has two great actors: Sidney Poitier and River Phoenix. Poitier is great actor and I have to say that R.Phoenix was that too. Phoenix is great in this role and he really showed bags of abilities. It is petty that we can't watch Phoenix brothers together on screen today. So story of this movie is pretty messed up. There is lot of going on but I just don't have the felling that there is right connection with everything and that director Benjamin did his job well. His filming is like we're watching B movie with two star actors (what it is). There is particularly one scene that I disliked: when River almost hits the camera, in that scene in a living room when he's with his parents and Russian Konstantin is on the phone. Why this wasn't cut, I don't know. One thing that I also didn't liked is that again the whole story is about Americans and Russians. About Russian spies and agents who are bad and American FBI agents who are all of course good.I have nothing to recommend, you really don't have to watch this movie. I just watched it because of late River Phoenix. Actually he's the only reason why you should decide to watch this movie ever.
elliehemm
This is one of the stupidest movies I have ever seen, however like many similarly dumb movies it does have its entertaining moments. To start with the plot is about as farfetched as they come. **SOME SPOILERS ** During a routine check to allow a boy into the airforce it comes to this FBI guy's attention that the boys parents are either the undead or are using fake names. Now the FBI agent has to do some snooping and finds out that the boy's parents are in fact Russian sleeper spies and that other sleeper spies in the region are being killed one by one by a rogue Russian spy! the FBI agent tells the boy who predictably does not believe that his all-American parents could be Russian spies but after he does some snooping he finds some passports revealing that his parents are Russian and in fact his name is not Jeff Nicholas Grant as he thought but is actually Nikita! We can all guess what's going to go down now. **END OF SPOILERS **So the plot is a big weakness but combined with the terrible script Little Nikita makes all its cast and crew look like amateurs. There is seriously only one reason to watch this movie.....the crazy talented RIVER PHOENIX. Phoenix is the only one able to breathe some light and life into the script and his scenes are the only ones worthwhile watching. In a film that is undeserving of such talent River Phoenix comes away unscathed. His performance is solid even if at certain points he too looks embarrassed both by the lines he has to say and the stereotypical Russians he is playing against. Phoenix was the best actor of his generation and it is a deep tragedy that he was taken so young.My verdict on this film is: AVERAGE script, AVERAGE plot, AVERAGE acting from all but River Phoenix who is great in every part.Don't pay money to see this film, don't rent it and don't buy it. It's the kind of film you may want to catch on TV if you have a couple of spare hours. If you are a fan of River Phoenix then you probably want to check it out but don't expect too much, his performance is good but the movie itself is far from his best.5/10
emm
This sounds really hot for a movie like LITTLE NIKITA: a teenager (River Phoenix, teen heartthrob of the late-80s) becomes caught in a knot when he learns that his parents are Russian spies. It's no wonder why this would be fun with Phoenix in the act (if this is 1988 right now!), or Sidney Poitier doing all sorts of activities to help maintain its entertainment value. Something had to go wrong with the movie in general, and that is an outburst of instant confusion. It took more than one single piece of the plot to put a monkey wrench in the exhaust pipe. A few killings occur, and later it becomes a raging conspiracy. Adding to the panic is the way this movie was presented to a few young teens, with yes, River Phoenix on screen. It had the potential to become a decent modern-day thriller, but it's left without a whole lot of good interaction.
AD
