Critic Reviews
50
Metascore
Mixed or Average
positive
2(18%)
mixed
6(55%)
negative
3(27%)
Showing 11 Critic Reviews
All Reviews
All Reviews
Metascore
Metascore
88
Directed by Richard Benjamin from a screenplay by John Hill and Bo Goldman, Little Nikita is quite a surprise-a film that moves through several layers of irony and absurdism to arrive at a strong and solid emotional core. [18 Mar 1988, p.A]
80
A refreshingly original thriller that is also a wrenchingly poignant family drama.
60
The film never really carries out its implied deconstruction of the all-American family, but Poitier and Phoenix form an enjoyable bond. [23 Jun 2007, p.53]
50
Little Nikita never really materializes as a taut espionage thriller and winds up as an unsatisfying execution of a clever premise - a teen's traumatic discovery that his parents are Soviet spies.
50
Benjamin's creative visual style isn't enough to lift a weak story. [18 Mar 1988, p.D7]
40
Richard Benjamin's strategy in directing Little Nikita seems to have been to paper over the holes in the plot with routine moves from spy shows past, in hopes of making the improbable passable.
40
Despite a screenplay by the esteemed Bo Goldman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Scent of a Woman), this lacklustre espionage thriller is bogged down with the sort of clichés you'd expect from the height of the Cold War.
40
The premise of LITTLE NIKITA is a great one--worthy of Alfred Hitchcock--but the execution here by director Benjamin is as rickety as can be. About two-thirds into LITTLE NIKITA, the film deteriorates so rapidly that the characters cannot help but fall through the holes. Adding to the frustration of watching this otherwise-promising movie fall apart are the superb performances by Poitier and Phoenix.
38
A package like this looks OK on paper, but goes nowhere. It turns all of the characters into chess pieces, whose relationships depend on the plot, not on human chemistry. Since the plot is absurdly illogical, you’re not left with much.
30
Little Nikita would be nothing without River Phoenix's hair. It's the most engaging, the most watchable thing in the film. It has body. It has character. It even has drama. In other words, it has everything that's missing from the rest of the picture.
