Movie Review


1994
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman, and Danny Aiello.

Leon is not an action film, it's not a thriller, or a gory action motion picture. It's a love story, it just happens that action is used as its background. Jean Reno stars as Leon, a cleaner who does his job so precisely, so efficiently that no minute he's there and the next he's not. Natalie Portman stars as Mathilda, Leon's next door neighbor whose family literally gets wiped out by Gary Oldman's character, Stansfield. He adopts her as his own while she teaches him while to read. In return, he teaches her the ways of being a cleaner (aka hitman).



The gun battles in the film evoke a sense of John Woo in his peak but the action takes a backseat to the Lolita-type story. During their relationship, Mathilda falls for Leon despite their huge age difference. Mathilda does something that changes both their lives dramatically. Stansfield finds out who this hitman actually is and thus begins the hunt for Leon.



This is personally one of my favorite films not because of the awesome gun battles but because its story is told so well and executed so efficiently that the film flew by. The original theatrical American of the film had 24 minutes cut out of it because of poor audience test screenings. Thankfully Columbia Pictures has decided to release Besson's true director's cut as it is so much superior to the original theatrical cut. Leon and Mathilda's characters are more fleshed out and their characters are explored more fully. One mention has to go to Gary Oldman's character of Norman Stansfield. His performance is utterly creepy and so good that it feels that this film is remembered because of him. One scene he can be completely calm discussing about Beethoven while another he screams for more men to help destory the protagonist. Reno and Portman gives great performances but its Oldman that truly struck me as a flawless performance.



This is one of the best films ever made and sadly Besson hasn't topped himself ever since.

Grade: A+