Maggie Q Breathes Life Into Nikita
Maggie Q, better known as "the hot Asian hooker bitch," according to John McClane in "Live Free or Die Hard," is letter perfect as Nikita, former government assassin turned righter of wrongs.
In this third incarnation of the famed Nikita story, Hawaiian-born Maggie Q, Maggie Denise Quigley to be precise, as Nikita has escaped the evil government minions and seeks to help all the other sexy boy and girl assassins escape the same designer-fashion-lined trap.
A Story Than Won't Die
This story began with Luc Besson, the Transporter creator, who wrote and directed a French film, "La Femme Nikita," in 1990. Then Hollywood brought it to the American screens as an inferior remake in 1993, with too-dainty Bridget Fonda as Nikita in "Point of No Return." Not to be outdone, Canada stepped up to the plate in 1997 and created the TV series "La Femme Nikita" which ran for 4 years.
Another Wannabe?
Is this yet another telling of the same Nikita tale? After having viewed the first episode, I think perhaps there's more emotional depth and intensity than the antiseptic, rather amoral presentation offered by the Canadian production of Nikita.
Maybe it's an "Alias" remake? Again, I think not. Maggie Q does have the same poignant blend of vulnerability, strength and ruthlessness that Jennifer Garner brought to "Alias," but time will tell whether she has what it takes to step into Sydney Bristow's spike heels.
Keep Watching
If we're being realistic, as a writer, I must point out that the best acting in the world won't fix bad writing. The true test of whether this new Nikita has what it takes to go the distance will be the writing.
Can they offer fresh perspectives each week rather than the same one-note plot of get revenge on the government baddies who killed the man she loved?
Episode one was a pretty standard set up with in-depth back story. Sure, the episode was chock full of seriously attractive men and women, stunning clothes, some bad-ass fight scenes, cool music, and lots of weapons, but there wasn't really anything groundbreaking.
My husband enjoyed the show. Of course, he's a man and, like most men, would probably watch anything with scantily-clad women running around, shooting guns, and delivering karate chops. Conclusion? Men will tune in.
In fact, I have to confess I enjoyed the first episode. We women like to see a woman who can kick ass. It's so much more appealing than seeing a woman beaten and battered, as is the usual fare of episodic TV. One can hope that the stories will get more imaginative, in a realistic way, not the over-the-top Hollywood action movie path.
Good writing will give the watchable Maggie Q an imminently watchable series.
(Joan Reeves is published in book-length fiction and in periodicals, in print and online all over the web, under her own name, various pseudonyms, and as a ghost.)