Reviewed by: MrBooth Date: 09/03/2022 Basically "Jade Leung: The Movie". This remake of La Femme: Nikita is mediocre in almost every respect apart for some stylish cinematography and a firecracker performance from Jade Leung, in her first ever role. Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: Hyomil Date: 04/07/2011 Reviewer Score: 4

Reviewed by: dandan Date: 05/25/2008 Summary: la femme le chat noir... after getting on the wrong side of her boss and a chauvinistic trucker, catherine (jade leung) starts a fight which finishes with her killing the trucker and a cop who arrives. after a brief incarceration, catherine flees the courthouse before she goes to trial, only to be gunned down by a mysterious assassin. she wakes up, having had a microchip implanted in her brain and finds that she has been recruited to work for the c.i.a. as an assassin: codenamed 'black cat'. after being trained up, under the guidance of brian (simon yam), she heads to hong kong, where she waits for assignments to come her way. however, could the relationship she develops with allen (thomas lam), the manager of a nature park, get in the way of her work and put both her and allen in danger? if the plot sounds familiar, that's because it's a remake of 'nikita'. unfortunately, it's not nearly as good. simon yam is pretty much wasted, whilst jade leung is pretty much beaten, abused, thrown to the floor and has her sanity tested for the duration of the film. the story clunks along, with only a few interesting moments and a couple of reasonably entertaining action sequences, but is dominated by the slightly unsavoury tormenting of leung, in its various forms. you'd be better off watching the original, i have the sequel on my 'to watch' pile and i hope it is better than this. meh...

Reviewed by: JohnR Date: 08/26/2007 Summary: Bleak Crap Embarrassing to watch. This movie doesn't seem like much more than an opportunity for the camera to drool over Jade Leung. We get lots of running shots for maximum jiggle, there's a wet t-shirt scene when she's inexplicably sprayed down by a fire hose even though she's changed to the wall, there's the full backal nudity, and of course the whole thing is shot through with her being sadistically beaten. It's like some thirteen year old boy's wet dream. And for what? A boring movie that leaves logic on the cutting room floor. I watched this for the first time several years ago and thought it was bad. I decided to give it a second chance last night. My mistake. They should bury this in a cave in one of those mountains next to Manhattan. Reviewer Score: 2

Reviewed by: Chungking_Cash Date: 02/24/2007 A mediocre Hong Kong retread of Luc Besson's "Nikita" (1990) that wastes co-star Simon Yam like one of Jade Leung's targets. Stick with the original. Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: ewaffle Date: 07/08/2005 Summary: Its the microchip The greatest point of difference between "Black Cat" and "La Femme Nikita" or "Point of No Retrun" is that Jade Leung had a microchip implanted in her brain. This means that the growing moral dilemma that faced by the protagonists of the French and American movies isn't really an issue here. One of the main themes and points of conflict in "La Femme" and its American remake occurs when the newly trained and tested killer goes to live in the real world and (of course) falls in love with a regular guy--what happens when a woman who is a brainwashed killer feels love? Not an issue in "Black Cat" since that implant means that the assasination bureau never loses control of her. "La Femme" was also much more economical in setting up the story--Stephen Shin Gei Yin made his decisions on what to get put on film but it made the story structurally weaker. In "La Femme", Anne Parillaud's Nikita simply shoots a cop during a robbery and winds up headed for the gallows. Jade Leung's Catherine endures several beatings at the hands of seemingly interchangeable vicious thugs and police officers. Because so much time is spent having Catherine sufficiently brutalized the rest of the story has to be truncated leaving a string of decent action scenes which makes less and less narrative sense as the movie draws to a close. Worthwhile if only to see the lovely Jade Leung shoot firearms, beat up men twice her size and cut a bad guy's throat. Reviewer Score: 4

Reviewed by: Gaijin84 Date: 07/07/2005 Summary: La Femme Hong Kong We first meet Erica (before she is renamed Black Cat) washing dishes at a secluded truck stop in upstate New York. When she is rudely propositioned by a trucker, she decides to take matters into her own hands. After a series of brutal scenes, the trucker and diner owner both end up dead, along with a few cops that show up to investigate the scene. This shoves Erica into a downward spiral of police brutality and hardship, until she is rescued by a secret organization that trains assassins. Brian (Simon Yam) takes Erica under his wing and she becomes Black Cat, a new type of assassin who has had a microchip implanted in her brain in order to make her a more efficient killing machine. Although at first she detests her new life, Black Cat eventually accepts her role and begins to relish her opportunities to wreak havoc on assorted criminals. However, when love rears its ugly head, she has to decide which road to take, even if that decision could lead to her own termination. It s tough watching Black Cat after seeing the far superior La Femme Nikita, but one has to take the Hong Kong version for what it is, a souped-up, adrenaline-pumped film that doesn t really try to explore the psychology behind the runaway girl turned assassin, but instead turns to brutal action to portray her feelings. Black Cat is a fun movie to sit back and watch Jade Leung go ballistic against cops, gangsters and such, but in the long run it becomes tiresome and contrived. The attempted romance between Leung and a local park officer (Thomas Lam) develops too quickly and struggles to show any chemistry between the two actors. Subsequently, situations that should be heart-wrenching in the finale of the movie just become another plot point, with no distinguishing moments. As with most Hong Kong films, the acting is second rate (especially by the Australian actors in this movie) and the action in the movie is extremely entertaining. Leung, a former model, decided to do all her own stunts for the film, and to see her jumping off bridges, recklessly driving cars and firing off guns as big as her arm is quite entertaining, if simply for the visceral thrills. 6/10 Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 09/18/2003 A HK remake of the French cult classic La Femme Nikita. Leung plays a woman who, after accidentally killing a cop, is drafted into a top-secret organization and trained as an assassin by Yam. After getting pushed back out into the "real world," Leung falls for a mild-mannered man, who of course knows nothing about her real job. Leung must try to decide which world she belongs to as the organization's net draws tighter. A lot of people raved about this movie, but I wasn't all that impressed. The movie does have a nice visual style with good cinematography, but none of the actors are really any good. Even Simon Yam (who is normally one of HK's best actors) seems to be sleepwalking through his role. Leung is particularly bad. I just didn't see her as either a cold-blooded killer or innocent girl. Her English is also pretty bad -- this normally wouldn't be a problem in a HK movie but about half her lines are in English! There are also some glaring errors in the film. Even though the first part of the movie is supposed to be in New York, a lot of the gweilo actors have thick British accents. There is a big deal made about a bullet made out of an ice-like material that dissolves on impact, but can only be used for five seconds. When it is used in a hit, Leung holds the bullet for at least 10 seconds. Coupled with the weak action sequences, Black Cat just wasn't all that entertaining. Stick with the original instead.

Reviewed by: Wurms Date: 07/23/2002 Summary: Decent enough to watch Well, like other reviewers have been saying, this is just La Femme Nikita story done all over again. I think is a decent version of it too. Its starts off well with Jade going through hell, getting beat up multiple times and her life just sucks. Then gets killed by gov't officials, gets a chip put in her head (to supposidly enhance her skills) and she is trained for a year. Well, that is the fist half of the movie and it does a good job of entertaining you. The second half we have Jade living in the outside world, she gets boyfriend, and while trying to keep a relationship she is ordered to do hits. Her boyfriend gets suspiscious, blah blah, you know the rest. Well, there is no real big hit she must do at the end or anything like that. She just keeps doing hits then after one particular assignment the credits just start rolling and you go "What the %&$!" A decent version of La Femme, I enjoyed watching it. Wish it could have ended properly. Nothing special here, but if your not tired of the La Femme story then give this a looksie. Much better then Brigette Fonda's hollywood junk of Point of No Return. Rating: 2/5 Reviewer Score: 4

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 04/14/2002 It's 'Femme Nikita' all over again, but even worst! An example of poor taste can be said about the people who actually enjoy this over-rated cult film. I think I remember Eastern Heroes going on about this film years ago. But saying that, some of the action scenes were very well done. Raing: 1.5/5 Reviewer Score: 3

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 03/09/2002 Summary: LA FEMME NIKITA clone hk style OH this movie has potential but it is almost a total rip off of the LE Femme Nikita movie. It's just too similiar to it but done more poorly. The ending was kind of bland. The action as far as i remember was only average too. It didn't use Jade Leungs sexiness in this movie, and if it did it would have been a better movie. 4/10 Reviewer Score: 4

Reviewed by: alienlord Date: 04/30/2001 A young girl who is shot dead by government agents is given the chance to start again as a secret agent working for them. The performances are OK, but the action is abrupt and unexplicit, except for the first explosive 15 minutes. Jade Leung as the young girl has her moments but lacks the fire needed to pull this role through. For better treatment of this premise watch NAKED KILLER, or the film this movie was based on LA FEMME NIKITA. **/4 Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: s**** Date: 04/20/2001 Jade Leung really sucks in this remake of Luc Besson's LA FEMME NIKITA, which wasn't that good to begin with. Who the hell cares about these movies about hardcore killers who are soft and mushy on the inside, besides a few writers who are scared to leave their apartment? Basically this is the cinematic equivalent of a supermarket romance novel, with a couple of anemic fight scenes thrown in to keep the viewer awake. Unbelievably overrated. Simon Yam is wasted, as usual, in the kind of amoral-love-interest role he can play in his sleep, and evidently does. Watch the LA FEMME NIKITA TV show instead, or, for that matter, anything else.

Reviewed by: hkcinema Date: 12/21/1999 The Hong Kong remake of Nikita doesn't even come close to matching the Luc Besson classic but as an action movie on its own its very entertaining. (6/10) [Reviewed by Andrej Blazeka]

Reviewed by: MilesC Date: 12/09/1999 One of the most overrated movies I can think of off the top of my head; Like many, it starts off promising but quickly loses steam. The most interesting part is the first half hour or so, in which Leung is trained as a "super-assassin". Unfortunatley all these new skills never really get put to good use. Most of the story is of minimal interest, and as for the action... What action? Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: leh Date: 12/09/1999 Straight copy of the French movie "Nikita" about a young woman who is trained as an assassin for a secret governmental organization. Good performance by Jade Leung; you can feel her struggling to keep her humanity. Adds just enough new twists to the story to make it interesting; I actually prefer it to the French original.

Reviewed by: hokazak Date: 12/09/1999 Very good! Jade Leung is an exciting new, rising star. Thisremake of "La Femme Nikita" matches the original in many respects, and surpasses it, in others.

Reviewed by: spinali Date: 12/08/1999 Summary: NULL A foxy misfit (Jade Leung) is killed by the U.S.. Government, then revived and conditioned to be a sleek, compact killing machine dressed in trademark sunglasses and mini-skirt. Her trainer, Simon Yam, also wears sunglasses. This HK variant of the La Femme Nikita blows away the French and American versions, due mostly to Jade Leung's blistering performance. (3/4) [Reviewed by Steve Spinali] Reviewer Score: 7