Review of Léon: The Professional (1994) by Nelson M — 02 Jun 2012

Leon is a 1994 thriller directed by French director Luc Besson. Also known as â~The Professionalâ(TM), the film narrates a story about how a hitman Leon (Reno) gives shelter to a girl Mathilda (Portman) who lives in his neighbourhood after her family is killed by a corrupt DEA officer (Oldman) and his men on the suspicion of stealing his drugs.

Mathilda discovers that Leon is a hitman and works for an Italian mafioso Tony (Aiello). Mathilda begs Leon to teach her his art so that she can take a revenge on the officer who killed her younger brother. In return, she offers to do the household chores apart from teaching him how to read and write. He starts taking her on his assignments where she works as his cleaner and teachers her how to handle guns. One day, when Leon is out on an assignment on his own, Mathilda loads her bag with Leonâ(TM)s guns and bluffs her way into the DEA office after locating it earlier. There she encounters Stansfield who finds about her plans. What happens next?

Leon packs some of the most powerful performances in recent times. The role of Mathilda played by a 13 year old Natalie Portman, though much more bolder than to my liking, was superbly portrayed. Youâ(TM)ll literally forget that the character is being performed by a 13 year old girl in the movie. It is a very mature character. The character not only loses her family & sees the dead body of her beloved brother, but also carries revenge at such a young age. Mathilda also smokes and is very daring as is shown in the scene where she plans to take on a psychopath drug addict murderer who also happens to be a DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) officer. The role of Stansfield is the best part of the movie for me. A lot has been written about the character on the internet. People have loved it but also have commented on how the character has been â~overlyâ(TM) stated. I really enjoyed the performance of Gary Oldman. The on-screen presence of the character always gave a very sinister feeling. The way he took his drug, his dialogues (âDeath is whimsical todayâ?, âI like these calm little moments before a storm. It reminds me of Beethoven!â?), his unusual calmness and then a sudden burst of rage made his character look very creepy & unpredictable. Stansfield goes down in my book of the best villains of all time! Reno as a hitman was good. His fight scenes were probably one of the best of his times especially at the end. His character was strong & professional yet emotionally vulnerable. The background score composed by Eric Serra was both haunting and thrilling in equal measures. It brought in a chilly atmosphere in the movie and kept your heart pumping in the close quarter scenes.

I happened to watch a hindi movie called âBichchooâ? in 2000 starring Bobby Deol and Rani Mukherjee. After watching Leon I found that Bichchoo was a hindi remake of the movie. Many scenes especially the ending were almost the same.

Overall, Leon is one of the best thriller movies of all time. Although I watched it in 2012, it was released 18 years back in 1994. Many of the scenes especially the ending must have been really thrilling for the audience back then. Elements of the movie have been used by many action movies in the late 90s as well as in the 21st century. A must watch for any cinema enthusiast who havenâ(TM)t checked it out yet!