The Professional: A Frenchman and Nathalie Portman
Hello Everybody! Sorry I haven’t been writing so much, I have so many projects going on right now that I just don’t have as much time as I used to. Anyways, here is my review of Leon: The Professional.
TITLE: Leon: The Professional
DIRECTOR: Luc Besson
STARRING: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman, Danny Aiello
GENRE: Thriller
YEAR: 1994
COUNTRY: France
I decided to watch this film this week because it was one of the only films that my roommate brought over that wasn’t a musical. It was even better because she has never seen it or even heard of it. Going into this film with little knowledge was the best way.
Leon: The Professional will now shortened to just The Professional (since that is the actual title of the U.S version I viewed. The film stars Jean Reno, Nathalie Portman, and Gary Oldman. The film follows “cleaner” Leon (Jean Reno) as he unintentionally becomes involved in a giant mess with Matilda’s (Nathalie Portman) and corrupt DEA agent Norman (Gary Oldman). After Matilda’s father steals cocaine from Norman’s crew, Norman murders her entire family. In a desperate plea to get away from death, Mathilda seeks refuge with Leon. Leon trains her as san assassin and helps with the murder of Norman.
The Professional surprised me quite a bit with how decent a movie it was. The only thing I heard about the film was that it is considered one of the best assassin films ever. I wouldn’t go that far, but I am not denying that it deserves praise. Gary Oldman was absolutely amazing in this role. I could see no one else (except maybe Guy Pearce), who could play the role as well as he did. Easily one of Oldman’s top performances. This was Nathalie Portman’s first role in film and I thought she did a phenomenal job as well. Not bad for your first role kid. You were going places.
While I believe The Professional deserves plenty of praise, there is still plenty to gripe about. I do not believe the Jean Reno did a very good job as Leon. He definitely land being cold as fuck, just like his character should have been. When his arc occurs though, I think it could have been so much better. My biggest gripe though was the plant. I get that it is important for his character, but I still thought it was unnecessary.
PROS:
- Interesting characters.
- Gary Oldman’s performance.
- Nathalie Portman’s performance.
CONS:
- Jean Reno’s performance.
- Film feels dated.
- Low production value.
SCORES: 8.0 / 10
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Good review. It’s a shame that Besson never quite recuperated after this, or when the 90’s ended. He’s been trying ever since, but it hasn’t quite worked to the best of his ability.