A typical Cold War era US v Soviet spy drama that were a dime a dozen by the mid/late 80's. The plot in Little Nikita explores a family in San Diego where the parents are Soviet sleeper agents embedded in US society for over 20 years. The plot is worth a 5 but what redeems this movie is the 8/9 level performances of the two lead actors, legendary actor Sidney Portier as grizzled FBI agent Roy Parmenter still mourning the loss of his partner at the hands of a Russian agent and then rising teen star River Phoenix as the 17 year old Air Force cadet Jeff Grant, son of Richard (Richard Jenkins) and Elizabeth Grant (Caroline Kava), the sleeper Soviet agent parents running an innocuous garden shop.
The chemistry between one of America's most famous actors and, at the time, one of Hollywood's most promising newcomers, is fabulous. One wonders whether Portier was given some ad-libbing license in the iconic scene where he interviews Jeff Grant at the Air Force Academy in an attempt to lay the groundwork for explaining to him that his parents are Russian spies. River sparks wonderfully off Sidney all through the movie and these two leads make the movie very much worth watching.
River Phoenix did not give quite the same powerful and intense performance as he did later that year in "Running on Empty" (for which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar - one of only three teenage male actors to achieve this big milestone, the others being Timothy Hutton in "Ordinary People" and Leonardo diCaprio in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape") nevertheless coming off his breakout role in "Stand By Me" aged 14 and his excellent work a year later alongside Harrison Ford in "The Mosquito Coast", Little Nikita was definitely a movie that demonstrated why River Phoenix was one of greatest young actors of all time.
The chemistry between one of America's most famous actors and, at the time, one of Hollywood's most promising newcomers, is fabulous. One wonders whether Portier was given some ad-libbing license in the iconic scene where he interviews Jeff Grant at the Air Force Academy in an attempt to lay the groundwork for explaining to him that his parents are Russian spies. River sparks wonderfully off Sidney all through the movie and these two leads make the movie very much worth watching.
River Phoenix did not give quite the same powerful and intense performance as he did later that year in "Running on Empty" (for which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar - one of only three teenage male actors to achieve this big milestone, the others being Timothy Hutton in "Ordinary People" and Leonardo diCaprio in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape") nevertheless coming off his breakout role in "Stand By Me" aged 14 and his excellent work a year later alongside Harrison Ford in "The Mosquito Coast", Little Nikita was definitely a movie that demonstrated why River Phoenix was one of greatest young actors of all time.