River Phoenix, Sidney Poiter, Richard Jenkins, Caroline Karva, Richard Bradford, Richard Lynch, Loretta Devine, Lucy Deakins
A nice companion piece to River Phoenix's other Spy flick "Running on Empty", Richard Benjiman's "Little Nikita" stars Phoenix as Jeff Grant, a young highschooler whose application to be considered for the Air Force gets him and his family in a tricky predicament. Seems the interviewer, Roy Parmenter (Sidney Poiter) does a background check on Grant and his family and discovers they're actually 'Sleepers' - agents deep undercover awaiting orders.
Parmenter decides to keep tabs on the Grant's, seeing in the meantime if their son is also a Spy. Maybe then, they can assist in bringing down a Soviet spy, whose out to put all the former sleepers into wooden boxes.
Middling, but still moderately compelling, "Little Nikita" is for the most part a good couple of hours and action and thrills. If some of the characters had been a bit more fleshed out, it may have been just as good a movie as Phoenix starrer "Running on Empty", but it sadly isn't.
A nice new poster image for the DVD release is the only new extra you'll find on this release.
