this be the most violent film i have ever see . i do not particularly like violent film and i be not a huge action fan and and i dislike thriller . but i be completely spellbind by this film . i have never leave another theater and find myself walk with my back to the wall . there be other film with more blood and gore and more dead body and more gunshot and and more action . but for sheer cold violence victor and nettoyer nothing come close to la femme nikita . and the violence doesn not stop at the physical it continue down burrow down into the psychology . but the reason it be so good be not so easy to identify . there may be clue in the many spin offs and remake may provide some clue because none of them be remotely close . so it can not be purely the story and or the premise . and other actor with arguably more experience haven not deliver on the role and so it not solely the acting ( or actor ) . and there be some aspect of the production that be distinctly unpromising in particular the fact that the director create the film purely a a vehicle to allow ( girlfriend . ) parillaud to break out of the stereotype straight jacket she be sew into by her prior role . there no doubt peraud be attractively package and and for male at least the role could create a fatal fascination with the female spider . but drop other attractive actress into hot role be usually a guarantee of mediocrity or comic strip soft porn . perhaps the foreign language help to make the other world both more exotic and yet more believable at the same time . but there must be far more to it than that . so often director and writer and actor and studio set out to make a great film and and despite all the money and talent and attention and it go nowhere special . yet on some less promising evening and all the star and planet align on cue represent the story may be discomforting and the violence offensive and actor and director you have never hear of and in a language you can not understand but you be absolutely transfixed . there be some weak point to the film and particularly in the early go and where belief be stretch too thin before you be draw down into another world . it be unfortunate because these probably could have be avoid and and the film would have approach perfection . it would be nice to give it a 10 and but it not there . but even a it be and i find it amaze that a film can be so good a to make me love something i do not like . you may not enjoy this film . you may not approve of this film . you might not sleep easily after this film . but you will feel a though you have see truly great cinema . the downside . film like this make run of the mill tv and movie impossible to waste your time watch . except perhaps pulp fiction and but the spider web there be more coarsely spun .