Movie

First Target (2000)

In a familiar setup, an assassin targets the US President and must outwit an elite Secret Service agent. The narrative twist: both major players are female. This is the second part of a trilogy, set between First Daughter (1999) and First Shot (2002). For this outing, Daryl Hannah – not Mariel Hemingway – plays Alex McGregor.

A cabal of powerful businessmen is unhappy with policy decisions, so they hire a nasty and deadly woman to eliminate the problem. There’s a secondary plot about an extremist sending video threats – a stereotype weirdo in a log cabin. Add traitors in the Secret Service working against Alex, a rookie agent eager to prove herself, and an obvious late reveal that the Vice President is involved. The result is a mostly predictable story. However, this TV movie has decent production values, and Ona Grauer’s ruthless hitwoman is a memorable villainess.

Nina’s introduction is a scene any bad girl fan will relish. Off the Seattle coast, a blonde woman in a bikini seduces a guy on a yacht. Then, she mixes drugs into his margarita and kicks him overboard. Nina could take this man without the advantage, as she’s a competent fighter, but she enjoys besting her opponents. Her confidence almost undoes the plan as the mark proves resilient. He refuses to drown easily, but Nina finishes the job before escaping on a speedboat with her brother, Evan.

With the stage set, the assassin reports to her client, Hunter (Tom Butler). He’s a typical shady money man who lives on a luxury estate and throws lavish parties. His interest in Nina goes beyond professional – watching her shower – and she regards her sexiness as a tool to manipulate and control. Evan is not pleased with Hunter’s attitude, but Nina is twisted enough to torment her sibling.

This is all foreplay before a weapons test, where Nina practices her sharpshooting skills. Hunter isn’t the type to leave things to chance, so Evan builds a custom-made weapon. This classy rifle takes special explosive bullets designed to detonate at a specific range. In theory, a miss will be a kill shot. Nina shows off by destroying a boat, and the satisfied smirk tells us she’s looking forward to blowing up the President.

Villainess

Nina Stahl (Ona Grauer)

Alex’s first encounter with the assassin comes while scouting out a national park the President is due to attend. Nina deliberately bumps into the heroine and gives her a smile. It’s the audacity that elevates the villainess to legendary status.

This woman enjoys living dangerously. The technician flirting with Nina doesn’t know he’s given a deadly assassin access to the park’s sky tram system. As Evan overrides the security, Nina plays the seductress with her brother and toys with his emotions. To her, manipulation is second nature.

Alex is up against it, especially with the crazed militiaman threat to deal with and a traitor on her team. The man Nina killed on the yacht took photos without her knowledge, but the inside man replaced the incriminating picture to throw Alex off the trail. When the President gives his speech in the park, Nina takes position on a rooftop and prepares her rifle. The killer has a clear shot at the target area, and the sky tram is under Evan’s control. So, the President is an easy target once he’s on board and isolated from his Secret Service detail.

Fortunately, Alex remembers Nina from earlier and identifies her as the shooter. The heroine has help from her boyfriend Grant (Doug Savant), who’s spent most of the movie planning to propose to Alex. Now he gets to play the hero. While Alex and the rookie agent deal with the male villains, it’s Grant’s job to take on Nina. His surprise attack knocks off her aim, which results in a harmless mid-air explosion and one really pissed-off female assassin.

The dramatic fight that follows appears to be formulaic, with Grant given a hard lesson in kickboxing by Nina. In most movies, he’d emerge the unlikely victor, but the confident Nina remains in full control. She counters every move and finishes with a spinning kick. A fantastic slow-motion takedown ends with Grant falling off the roof, much to Nina’s delight. He survives, but won’t be involved in the action any further.

Alex is the only person who can stop Nina from completing her contract. The assassin swaps out her rifle for a conventional submachine gun, but Alex gets the President to safety. After a three-way tussle between the heroine, the President and the traitor, Nina has a free shot at her target. That’s when the rookie proves her worth (of course) and guns down the assassin. Martial arts aren’t much protection against bullets.

Honourable Mention: Sniper Assassins

Sniper: Assassin’s End (2020) – Lady Death (Sayaka Akimoto)

Another movie with a sniper / martial artist villainess. This entry in the long-running Sniper series has Brandon Beckett (Chad Michael Collins) team up with his veteran father, Thomas (Tom Berenger) to uncover a corporate conspiracy.

The pre-title sequence establishes Lady Death as a mysterious and lethally efficient killer. In a stylish scene, she assassinates a South American politician from a hotel miles away. Before firing, the female sniper plants hair and saliva to frame Brandon as the shooter. The secondary plan is to stage his suicide, but the authorities arrest him before Lady Death gets there.

The assassin’s employer is annoyed, so he hires mercenaries to attack the prisoner convoy. Lady Death is backup and proves far more effective at killing the security personnel. Even with her fire support, the villains still mess up and Brandon escapes. Lady Death is an exceptional operative who avoids loose ends, so why did the head villain waste his money on incompetent thugs?

Beckett gets help from a mysterious government agent known as Zero (Ryan Robbins) and a female analyst. They don’t believe the obvious story and uncover a plot to make money from a trade deal. The story and lead villain are dull, leaving Lady Death to inject some welcome action and excitement.

The highlight is a sniper duel in the forest. Government operatives are little more than cannon fodder, but the father and son team is a match for the former Yakuza assassin. After a standoff in the woods with the snipers scoping their targets, shots are exchanged and Brandon gets the drop on the villainess.

She dumps her camouflage for more practical clothing (a tight-fitting black outfit) and fights the hero with martial arts and blades on ropes. It’s a lengthy contest, much better than the usual half-minute affair. It takes the father aiming a sniper rifle at Lady Death’s head to force her to surrender.

That’s about it for major scenes. Now in custody, Lady Death cooperates with Zero and the Becketts to bring down the main villain. She pretends to capture the hero, but the bad guy doesn’t fall for it, and the redeemed sniper gets shot for her betrayal. Thankfully, Lady Death survives, and the last scene has Zero recruit her for a special ops unit.