Leon aka The Professional: Gaumont International
Rating:USA: R/ UK: 18/ Australia: R

Back in 1990, French filmmaker Luc Besson released his film La Femme Nikita (which was later remade here in America with Bridget Fonda in the lead role—and was essentially unwatchable) and action fans worldwide sat up and took notice. Besson’s movie was stylish, intense, well executed, and just all around fun. Essentially, he’d captured what makes Hong Kong action cinema so exciting and crossed it with his own French sensibilities—and the result was one of the best action films of the decade.

Besson then decided to follow up the success of Nikita with yet another film about a professional assassin, his 1994 film Leon (which was originally released in a truncated form under the title The Professional here in the States). Amazingly enough, this film manages to outdo its predecessor in just about every way possible.

Leon (Jean Reno) is a cleaner (insider slang for a hitman). He lives alone in an apartment with nothing but a potted plant for company, he sleeps sitting in a chair, he’s learning to read, he has a thing for drinking milk, and he spends his downtime watching Gene Kelly films at a local theater. To see Leon on the street, with his odd stare and ill-fitting (but well pressed) clothes, you’d never suspect that this man was a nearly perfect killing machine. In fact, you might think him mildly retarded.

Life is normal for Leon, that is, until a corrupt group of DEA officers led by Stansfield (Gary Oldman in a brilliantly over-the-top performance) bust into the neighbor’s apartment and kill the entire family—all save for 12-year-old Mathilda (Natalie Portman), who happened to be at the store. Mathilda shows up on Leon’s doorstep and he reluctantly takes her in. Mathilda, who’s street smart and wise beyond her years, begs Leon to teach her how to clean—something he eventually does—and to help her seek revenge against Stansfield and his men for killing her 4-year-old brother. All of this leads to a bittersweet climax filled with as much emotion as bullets and explosions.

At it’s core, Leon is a film that seems fixated with inverses and dichotomies. The characters, their lives, etc. all seem at odds with one another throughout the film, a fact that works to create not only some interesting interplay between all of the actors, but also to help maintain a constant amount of tension throughout the narrative.

Leon is a loner, a man who’s chosen a solitary trade that suits him perfectly. He has little interaction with anyone, living a quiet life all by himself. Mathilda is a complete opposite, an outgoing and precocious 12-year-old with a lust for life. There’s an air of uneasiness at first, highlighted in a scene where Leon wakes up and holds a pistol to the sleeping child’s head—in his world, she’s a liability, and would probably be better off dead. Yet again, he goes against his instinct and let’s her live—which allows him to change during the course of the film.

There’s an even more interesting dichotomy between Leon and Stansfield that runs throughout the film. Leon’s a professional—which means he follows the rules of his trade (he never kills women or children). For an assassin, he’s surprisingly moral. Stansfield, on the other hand, follows no rules. He’s a cop who’s completely out of control, whacked out on drugs most of the time, and completely amoral. He’s an exact inverse of Leon, right down to his constantly wrinkled suit. Here, like in many Hong Kong action films, the roles have been reversed. The ‘bad guy’ (Leon) is actually a good guy, and the ‘good guy’ (Stansfield) is actually a villain.

With La Femme Nikita, Besson demonstrated a flair for both intriguing visuals and for composing some amazing action set-pieces. He continues to impress here, with countless shots that break away from the norm.

In the opening sequence, we see Leon taking a job (offered to him by Tony, his ‘agent’, played by Danny Aiello). Besson shoots the scene in tight, capturing only the eyes of each man. He even manages to capture Aiello’s reflection in Leon’s sunglasses without catching any of the camera equipment filming the shot.

The action set-pieces are also quite good, particularly the one that opens the film. We’re introduced to Leon at Tony’s, but we really get to know what he’s about in the next scene—a sequence where he single-handedly takes out a drug dealer’s entire security force without allowing them to ever see him. This scene also features some very cool shots, two in particular. One has Leon peering in on his prey through a bullet hole in the blinds, with his one unblinking eye being the only thing visible. The next has him sort of materializing out of the shadows to place a knife at the target’s throat, then disappearing back into the darkness when his job is complete.

In the American version, you really only see the beginning action segment and one at the climax. However, on the recently released international version (available on DVD), we’re treated to 24 more minutes of footage—footage that really makes the film work and answers some questions that get glossed over in the US cut. On top of that, you get several more small action sequences in the film.

The film’s three leads are all excellent. Jean Reno is great as Leon, a man who has no real idea how to deal with a 12-year-old little girl. He plays Leon with a real sense of vulnerability—yes, he’s a killer, but he’s also essentially a child. He’s certainly not the suave and debonair assassin that’s so popular in Hong Kong.

Natalie Portman does a great job playing the lolita who falls in love with Leon. For being a child actor, she does an admirable job portraying a character who acts far more adult than most kids her age. Yet, for all of her bluster, she’s just as vulnerable as Leon, a fact that makes their relationship so touching.

Gary Oldman steals every scene he’s in as the maniacal Stansfield. Whether it’s parading through Mathilda’s house blowing people away while humming Beethoven, or the weird, snake-like way he pops his pills, you can’t help but be mesmerized by the man. He’s intriguing, funny, and terrifying—all at once.

As mentioned earlier, the international cut of the film has been released here in America, and if you like this film at all, or have just seen the traditional American print, then I suggest you run out and pick up a copy of this new version—it’s a much better print.

The restored 24 minutes is mostly in the second act, where we get to see Leon actually taking Mathilda on jobs with him in order to train her. We also see a lot more of their burgeoning relationship—both being potential reasons why the footage was cut from US prints…most people aren’t comfortable with the odd romance (which always remains platonic) between the grown man and young child. Other than that, the restored footage fills in a lot of little details that were missing from the earlier version—things about Leon’s past, etc. Simply put, there’s enough here in this 24 minutes of footage to make the movie worth seeing again even if you’ve seen it before.

Ultimately, the original US version of The Professional was one of my favorite action films of all time. The newly released international version is even better—which makes me happy because I can now trash the low quality bootleg dub I had from a Japanese laserdisc. If you’re into stylish action cinema with more than just blood and bullets, this is a film that belongs on your ‘to see’ list.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening