A REMAKE can either become a cash cow, or a liability for producers. Nikita, based on the French film of the same title and a blueprint for Point of No Return (1993), is a modern take on the former TV series, La Femme Nikita, with Peta Wilson making for a formidable one-woman army.
This time, the makers didn’t go for a clone to play Nikita – the role went to Honolulu-born Maggie Q (pictured) who, if the first episode is anything to go by, will earn a huge following as a result of the espionage action drama. Think along the lines of Charlie’s Angels meets Lara Croft meets GI Jane.
Sexy and savvy – not to mention tough as nails – the new Nikita, one of the Division’s best assassins, is arresting. In episode one, viewers empathise with the character and her cause. She went rogue after her fiancé was killed by the secret agency and has been plotting to take it down.
I’m sure the one concern for the makers would have been to give the story an iota of novelty and that goal has been achieved.
Nikita is undoubtedly on par with parallel offerings Burn Notice and Leverage. It is slick, fast paced, well written and brilliantly cast.
So while a certain free-to-air channel has visited its archives to showcase reruns of The A-Team, Knight Rider and Mission Impossible, isn’t it wonderful to find there are worthy remakes on offer and those nostalgic memories of our favourite childhood shows remain untarnished?
l Nikita airs on M-Net on Tuesdays at 8pm.