Little Nikita

The renegade wants $200k... in 1988. Ten years before Austin Powers, this movie one ups it. Or one downs it. At least the renegade isn't greedy. Or intelligent.

The plot is all so whacky, nearly defies belief. Inexplicable motives by the bad guy, and hilarious incompetence by the US and USSR.

Considering there was literally only one FBI guy assigned to this case- involving over half a dozen Russian agents in the US- , they probably didn't want you to sweat the plot too much. Like a lengthy sequence where a pickup truck struggles to chase a commuter train. Hmm, where might that train be going? Gee, maybe farther down the track?

The Russian agent hangs out in the FBI agent's house so that he can capture Phoenix's character to use as leverage to force Phoenix's sleeper Russian agent parents to give the money to the renegade. Good thing the FBI agent didn't show up a few minutes earlier! It's a painfully glaring example of a script needing to move some characters somewhere else but can't think of any plausible way to make it happen.

And why exactly did the Russian agent keep Phoenix hostage after the handoff went south? Was he really trying to sneak him off to Russia? Despite Phoenix (who IS American) ultimately rebelling... oh, and the fact the FBI WOULD KNOW?

Of course not. Once again, it's painfully clunky script mechanics to get the characters together. Ugh.

Then there's a shootout/hostage situation on a pedestrian bridge at the San Ysidro border crossing, but nobody seems to notice. Yup.

What throws it for a loop is that most of the script would have played better as comedy or satire, but almost all the actors are playing it like a hard core drama. And the acting is really quite solid. Poitier and Phoenix have great chemistry here.

You could practically make a drinking game from how many times Poitier looks at the photos of the parents.

The script is just unbelievably ridiculous. The core of the sleeper agents with an unknowing son was nifty, as well as how this was discovered, by the kid applying to the Air Force without his parents knowing, triggering a background check. But wow did it go south from there.

Considering the renegade Soviet agent is killing people left and right, you'd think there would be some behind the scenes coordination between the US and Russians to solve the problem.

On one level, "Little Nikita" is just another silly action movie. But strong performances and some interesting turns keep this one afloat. FBI agent Roy Parmenter (Sidney Poitier) interviews teenager Jeff Grant (River Phoenix), who is trying to get into the Air Force Academy. But while reviewing Jeff, Roy discovers the most surprising thing of all: Jeff's parents are Soviet "sleeper" spies who fled to the United States and never told him about their history. Moreover, there's renegade Soviet agent Scuba - who murdered Roy's partner many years earlier - looking for Jeff, while the USSR has sent someone to capture Scuba! Yeah, it's beyond convoluted, and - quite frankly - improbable. But director Richard Benjamin knows how to to do it. There isn't a dull moment anywhere in the movie. Pretty interesting. And playing Jeff's dad is Richard Jenkins, aka Nate Sr on "Six Feet Under".

River Phoenix co-stars in this political thriller as "Jeff Grant", an All-American teenager determined to enrol in the Air Force Academy to impress his parents. What he's never known is that his dad and mom (Richard Jenkins, Caroline Kava) are in reality Soviet "sleeper" agents that have long been residents of the U.S. of A. FBI agent Roy Parmenter (Sidney Poitier) finds this out, and goes out of his way to befriend Jeff, hoping to expose the parents. But while this is going on, a renegade Soviet agent, "Scuba" (Richard Lynch), is busy eliminating sleepers in hopes of a payoff. The KGB sends one of their top men, Konstantin Karpov (Richard Bradford), to apprehend Scuba.

"Little Nikita" is directed competently enough by actor / filmmaker Richard Benjamin ("My Favourite Year"), but it's almost defeated by an utterly lousy script, credited to John Hill and Bo Goldman. It has barely a believable moment, but, to be fair, the incredible absurdity of the dialogue and scenes is good for some laughs. Poitier does give the movie some life with a lively and jokey performance; he's amusing, helping to smooth over a lot of those rough spots. Phoenix is good as the kid who's confronted with this truth about his folks that seems impossible to swallow. In fact, it's this excellent cast (also including Jerry Hardin as Poitiers' superior, Loretta Devine as a guidance counsellor who gets into bed with Poitier, and a briefly seen Lucy Deakins as Jeffs' girlfriend) that makes this preposterous movie as entertaining as it is. It really goes off the rails towards the end, with a priceless climax that turns the parents into action heroes! This is followed by more nonsense - a standoff on a trolley, a denouement on a border crossing.

Somewhat fun on a no-brainer level, but Phoenix's next picture, "Running on Empty", about another average American kid forced to deal with an unpleasant reality about his folks, is superior.

Six out of 10.

Little Nikita is a well done thriller. I found it entertaining and well acted. I am extremely glad that the lovely Loretta Devine (who played Reese in Urban Legend 1 and 2) had the honour of working with River Phoenix before he died. For fans of River Phoenix and taut thrillers, check this one out.

The Soviets suspect their agent nicknamed Scuba (Richard Lynch) is killing their deep agents and blackmailing them. They send agent Karpov (Richard Bradford) to stop him. In San Diego, FBI agent Roy Parmenter (Sidney Poitier) has been hunting Scuba for killing his partner. He discovers false information on the Air Force Academy application of Jeffrey Grant (River Phoenix) and suspects his parents Richard (Richard Jenkins) and Elizabeth (Caroline Kava).

There are a lot of dead bodies and it seems only Parmenter is on the case. The Russian characters are too Russian. They are literally meeting at the ballet. Despite having some great actors, this doesn't have the needed gritty realism. The idea of Russian sleeper agents in the suburbs could be interesting but this is not well executed. River Phoenix continues to be great. His next movie 'Running on Empty' has a superior family with secret identities.