Review of Léon: The Professional (1994) by Nick O — 04 May 2013

Like a well-oiled machine, "The Professional" is a hitman movie the way "Heat" is a heist movie -- by which I mean it's pretty much a stepping stone to the issues it later takes on. Jean Reno is at the top of his game here as hard-knuckled assassin Leon, a man writer-director Luc Besson doesn't portray as sad or even mopey. He doesn't look up from his weapon with an endless gaze in his eye when he meets 12-year-old Mathilda, a kid who's parents and siblings have been murdered by a pill-crunching coke dealer (Gary Oldman, bloody terrifying).

"The Professional" is white-hot adrenaline, pulling its audience in without much promise, but with an incredible amount of damaged goods. The best without a doubt is then-pre-teen Natalie Portman as Mathilda, her first film role. Her and Reno's banter sometimes seems forced, though Portman takes reign of "The Professional" in an almost unpractical manner, showing off the goods she'd bring to later projects. As Reno's hitman Leon is a man on the verge of his golden days, Mathilda's intense willingness to join his ranks ties along "The Professional" with beguiling overlap.