That said, Maggie Q - who previously played Nikita in a TV series inspired by the film - and Michael Keaton develop some surprising chemistry as the dueling instruments of their superiors’ enmity, even if those sparks ultimately fail to energize a violent, uninspiring origin story for her character.įox Picks Up Comedy Series ‘Pivoting’ Starring Eliza Coupe, Ginnifer Goodwin, Maggie Q

And after scripting “The Mechanic,” “The Equalizer” and its sequel, screenwriter Richard Wenk appears to have nothing new to contribute to the decreasingly rarified subgenre. The new film “The Protégé” follows in the footsteps of “Nikita” and far too many of its successors, with just about half as much awareness as it needs to get out of their shadow.ĭirector Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale”) has become a reliable provider of sturdy, polished action, but he’s seldom been able to bring to the screen what wasn’t already on the page. “La Femme Nikita” was almost certainly not the first film about a young woman rescued from life on the streets to become a cold-blooded assassin, but the success of Luc Besson’s 1990 thriller set a template that no one seems able to shake, even 31 years later.