She's a violent, savage, drug-addled thief, and during a break-in she coldly shoots a cop through the head. But Maggie Hayward is given another chance. After supposedly dying by lethal injection, she wakes up in a secret government compound and is offered a choice by secret agent Bob (Gabriel Byrne) : Die for real, or be trained as an assassin. She reluctantly chooses the latter, and after many months of rebellion becomes a killer with style and sophistication.

She enters a new life in California and moves in with a naive photographer (Dermot Mulroney). For awhile, it seems like Maggie has a new life -- until she is called out to bomb a building. After that, she realizes that she really has changed, and wants out. Bob promises to help if she does one last mission, impersonating a billionaire's spoiled girlfriend. But there is only one way out of the organization -- being killed herself.

"Point of No Return" is sort of "A Day in the Life of a Bond Girl." The concept of the street-thug-turned-spy is an intriguing one, but it degenerates about five minutes in. The direction is lackluster, the acting is dull, and the plot is improbable. (I wonder why nobody has noticed all the exploding hotels and high-profile "disappearances" that the government has caused...)

Direction is fairly bad; the film moves with remarkable sluggishness, with only intermittent action. There is only one real gun battle, and that is ruined because it's such a silly piece of work. The slow-motion and odd angles seem calculated to make it look cool, but the overall feeling is that they just wanted to show Fonda bounding and diving around in sexy outfits.

Maggie is presented as such a psychotic wreck at the beginning that her sudden transformation into a sophisticated, trustworthy spy seems fake. Even faker is her sudden unwillingness to kill criminals, when she tried to batter everyone else. It doesn't help that Fonda lacks the solidarity and strength to make such a role work; she just smirks, leers and tears up. Byrne has more dimension as Bob, but he's underused. Mulroney was mildly annoying as the pleasant but nosy boyfriend.

If you're simply looking for a girl-with-big-gun movie, this will fill the bill. But if you're looking for a good action thriller, keep looking for something better.


Nina over Nikita   July 21, 2002
 12 out of 22 found this review helpful

European moveas are not alwasy better than American. The originals are not always better than the copies.
And this film is exactly the case than American copy beats the French original.

Here we have better main actress. Bridget plays her role with greater credibility and sex appeal than Anne Parillaud. As punk or glamour lady Bridget Fonda is just shining.

You should not forget Gabriel Byrne as Bob and Harvey K. as the cleaner. This film have good actors in it.

Oscar winner Hans Zimmer have composed wonderful soundtrack. Maybe one of the best in his career; melody which would stuck in your brain. Do not miss some of the best Nina Simone`s songs featuring in this film.

Luc Besson, the author of the original, actually liked this copy. Bridget Fonda was last year a co-star in his movie.

So just do not be such an arrogant pseudo critic and just watch the movie. You will enjoy it.