Nikita: bring it on!!!!!!!!!
Sep. 16th, 2010 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexandralI am not watching too many things at the moment (am generally consumed by reading stacks of gay romance books at the moment) , but the new re-incarnation of “Nikita” have caught my attention pretty fast. I have always been such a fan of Nikita.
It all starts with the name, of course. Nikita is a very old Russian name, one of my all-time favourite names. In Russian, it is a strictly man’s name. It bears cultural references to old Russian folk legends of Nikita the Furrier, a mighty man and a warrior.
I don’t know exactly why, but other than in Russia, everyone I know seems to think that Nikita is a woman’s name. I wonder how this trend started. May be it is Elton John’s song, “Nikita”’s influence? The song was written in 1985 (earlier than any of the Nikita films or TV shows) , so there is a possibility that the name caught the attention of Luc Besson, the creator of the original “Nikita” film.Elton John admitted later that he wrote the song knowing that Nikita is a man’s name in Russian, which implied homosexual content of the song, but the original clip depicted Nikita as a blond lady.
To cut my musings short, for me Nikita is always a man’s name, but I think it is cool to have a film/TV/whatever about a female assassin with a man’s name. I LIKE THIS. I like this very much.
1990: Nikita franchise started with Luc Besson’s film "La Femme Nikita" (1990). As it goes, the original is always the best and I heartily recommend this film to anyone. Besson’s Nikita (Anne Parillaud) is probably the fiercest of them all and the film is more about social problems and less about fanservice. But there is lots of fanservice too.
Originally, Michael was called Bob (huh!) and he was played by fabulous Tchéky Karyo:
1993:Just three years later, there was quickly forgotten Hollywood film remake, "Point of no return". No open endings allowed in Hollywood, Brigit Fonda’s Nikita had a strange haircut and managed to escape it all with the love of a good man:
Michael, still by the name Bob, was played by inimitable Gabriel Byrne:
1997: After that, the legendary Canadian show "La Femme Nikita" came along. It is an awesome show, one of the rare few that I have seen in full. Peta Wilson is , by far, the best Nikita that ever existed. She is wild, vulnerable, kind, and visibly capable of killing anyone with her bare hands (or even just simply by her stare). She is everything Nikita is supposed to be.
Michael finally shed the name of Bob and acquired a very very sexy accent (Roy Dupius):
2010: Seven years after "La Femme Nikita" TV ended, and we have a new show! I can help but feel all happy inside, even though , after watching the first episode, I am not really that sure about the lead actress (Maggie Q). She not terribly bad, but she has nothing out of ordinary. Plus she is very very skinny. And before anyone asks, yes I have big issues with skinniness, and I acquire even bigger issues when I am supposed to believe that this skinny lady is an assassin capable of hand-to-hand combat and shooting. As it stands, her arms look like she shouldn’t be able to hold a gun for more than 10 seconds and her legs look like they can snap under her weight. All logic circuits in my brain scream : NO! This isn’t physically possible!
But new Michael! Is great! In the best tradition of Michaels past he wears sexy stubble and sexy voice :
It all starts with the name, of course. Nikita is a very old Russian name, one of my all-time favourite names. In Russian, it is a strictly man’s name. It bears cultural references to old Russian folk legends of Nikita the Furrier, a mighty man and a warrior.
I don’t know exactly why, but other than in Russia, everyone I know seems to think that Nikita is a woman’s name. I wonder how this trend started. May be it is Elton John’s song, “Nikita”’s influence? The song was written in 1985 (earlier than any of the Nikita films or TV shows) , so there is a possibility that the name caught the attention of Luc Besson, the creator of the original “Nikita” film.Elton John admitted later that he wrote the song knowing that Nikita is a man’s name in Russian, which implied homosexual content of the song, but the original clip depicted Nikita as a blond lady.
To cut my musings short, for me Nikita is always a man’s name, but I think it is cool to have a film/TV/whatever about a female assassin with a man’s name. I LIKE THIS. I like this very much.
1990: Nikita franchise started with Luc Besson’s film "La Femme Nikita" (1990). As it goes, the original is always the best and I heartily recommend this film to anyone. Besson’s Nikita (Anne Parillaud) is probably the fiercest of them all and the film is more about social problems and less about fanservice. But there is lots of fanservice too.
Originally, Michael was called Bob (huh!) and he was played by fabulous Tchéky Karyo:
1993:Just three years later, there was quickly forgotten Hollywood film remake, "Point of no return". No open endings allowed in Hollywood, Brigit Fonda’s Nikita had a strange haircut and managed to escape it all with the love of a good man:
Michael, still by the name Bob, was played by inimitable Gabriel Byrne:
1997: After that, the legendary Canadian show "La Femme Nikita" came along. It is an awesome show, one of the rare few that I have seen in full. Peta Wilson is , by far, the best Nikita that ever existed. She is wild, vulnerable, kind, and visibly capable of killing anyone with her bare hands (or even just simply by her stare). She is everything Nikita is supposed to be.
Michael finally shed the name of Bob and acquired a very very sexy accent (Roy Dupius):
2010: Seven years after "La Femme Nikita" TV ended, and we have a new show! I can help but feel all happy inside, even though , after watching the first episode, I am not really that sure about the lead actress (Maggie Q). She not terribly bad, but she has nothing out of ordinary. Plus she is very very skinny. And before anyone asks, yes I have big issues with skinniness, and I acquire even bigger issues when I am supposed to believe that this skinny lady is an assassin capable of hand-to-hand combat and shooting. As it stands, her arms look like she shouldn’t be able to hold a gun for more than 10 seconds and her legs look like they can snap under her weight. All logic circuits in my brain scream : NO! This isn’t physically possible!
But new Michael! Is great! In the best tradition of Michaels past he wears sexy stubble and sexy voice :
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 03:31 pm (UTC)I'm glad you're watching - another person to squee over it with!
no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 05:04 pm (UTC)I think I might like this one too , if we get more of that young girl Alex (who seems to be the real Nikita of this series) and less of stick-looking Nikita herself. Sorry, the actress really didn't click with me. I was so happy before I saw her on screen (she is half0Vietnamese which is great) , but in reality, she is more conventionally Western-looking than I would have even imagined her to be.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 04:42 pm (UTC)Having watched the new 'Nikita' pilot, I am realizing how much I LOVED the old tv version. Could you please post some pictures of that Michael in what I like to call his "action tights"??
no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 05:12 pm (UTC)I LOVED the old series too. I will try to dig out the pictures of Michael in leggins. They were great.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 07:17 pm (UTC)don't underestimate skinny girls -- they can kick ass, too.
(although as a feminist I do have issues with all women in the show being pretty much underweight)
no subject
Date: 2010-09-17 12:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 10:27 pm (UTC)I have Nikita ready to watch and am looking forward to it. Maggie Q I have mixed feelings about. She was in a HORRIBLE sexploitation movie called Naked Weapon and she was terrible in the latest Die Hard but I did like her in Mission Impossible III (http://koalathebear.livejournal.com/668679.html). :D
no subject
Date: 2010-09-17 12:31 am (UTC)I hope Maggie improves on me, if anything, I liked the other girl, the young one, so I hope we'll see more of her.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-17 02:11 pm (UTC)PS. Absolutely LOVE the pic of Roy Dupuis. I miss him in movies and serials!