{"id":4472,"date":"2011-01-07T23:46:49","date_gmt":"2011-01-08T04:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=4472"},"modified":"2017-05-24T00:05:16","modified_gmt":"2017-05-24T04:05:16","slug":"you-have-to-see-this-leon-the-professional-1994","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/07\/you-have-to-see-this-leon-the-professional-1994\/","title":{"rendered":"You Have to See This! Leon: The Professional (1994)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"shot0034k\"<\/a>Leon is a hit man, the best hit man working for Tony.\u00a0 He kills without a sound, without any emotion, he has only one rule \u201cno woman, no child\u201d, he\u2019s the perfect hit man.\u00a0 Leon lives in the same building as Mathilda and her dysfunctional family.\u00a0 Mathilda\u2019s father is a drug-dealer who does not care much, her stepmom does not seem to like her much, and her big sister seems to hate her.\u00a0 Mathilda\u2019s sole solace is her younger brother, whom she loves very dearly.\u00a0 Comes in New York City\u2019s crooked DEA, Norman Stansfield, who hired Mathilda\u2019s father as a drug dealer.\u00a0 After the drugs are found to have been cut, Stansfield demands an answer as to how this has happened by 12 noon the next day.<\/p>\n

The day goes as normal for Mathilda\u2019s family, until 12 noon when Stansfield and his men come back and annihilate Mathilda\u2019s whole family.\u00a0 Or so they think, until one finds frame with pictures of 3 kids.\u00a0 They realize that the middle child was not home.\u00a0 Mathilda happened to be out on a grocery errand.\u00a0 When she comes back, she sees that her father is dead in the entryway of their apartment.\u00a0 She avoids getting noticed and walks straight to Leon\u2019s door.\u00a0 After repeated knocks on the door from her, Leon reluctantly lets her in, thus saving her life.<\/p>\n

From then on, Mathilda sticks with Leon, who has told her is a cleaner, a hit man.\u00a0 Mathilda wants his help in killing the people who have killed her little brother by either doing it himself or teaching her how to.<\/p>\n

After originally wanting her to go away quickly, Leon slowly learns to care for Mathilda and teaches her how to kill.\u00a0 This is as far into the story as I will go as to not spoil the entire movie for those who have yet to see it.<\/p>\n

As most, if not all, of the movies written and directed by Luc Besson, the story is well written and developed, the characters are all either lovable or detestable, and the dialogue is never ridiculous or filled with high-brow language.\u00a0 His characters are normal, or normal-ish, people.\u00a0 As soon as she is introduced, the viewers care about Mathilda and eventually, Leon becomes a caring father figure to her and a character you care about.<\/p>\n

Besson\u2019s direction is impeccable as usual as well.\u00a0 Every scene has obviously been carefully planned and executed, every visual set up to bring something to the story, may it only be an emotion. The score, by Eric Serra (a regular of Luc Besson movies), bring the emotions and feelings to the forefront, but without seeming forced or exaggerated.<\/p>\n

It is not trying to tell you what to feel but is going along with what the viewer feels, like all scores should.\u00a0 Only two songs were used for the soundtrack, adding the rare perfect touches to the core.\u00a0 Bjork\u2019s \u201cVenus as a Boy\u201d is used in such a manner that it enhances the part of the movie it is playing as background music for.\u00a0 The second and last song is at the very end of the movie and over the credits.\u00a0 \u201cShape of My Heart\u201d by Sting brings up the perfect swell of emotions to go with the ending of the story, which ends well but is not your typical \u201cHollywood\u201d happy ending.<\/p>\n

With the writing, directing, and score being so perfectly matched together, the acting could not be anything but amazing or everything would have been for naught.\u00a0 In the part of Mathilda is Natalie Portman starting her career with a big bang.\u00a0This was her full length film debut and she gives the kind of performance we\u2019ve all grown accustomed to from her.<\/p>\n

What is most surprising about her performance is how nuanced and touching she makes Mathilda given that she was only 13 in 1994 when the movie was released.\u00a0 The part of Leon was written by Besson for Jean Reno, one of his regulars in movies he wrote and directed or simply produced.<\/p>\n

Reno does an excellent job of making us believe in Leon.\u00a0 In fact, he is Leon, embodying him in every way.\u00a0 He gives the killer a sensible side that makes the viewers get attached to him.\u00a0 As the bad guy, crooked and crazed New York City DEA Norman Stansfield is Gary Oldman, giving an amazing performance, making you think that he might just be this maniacal man out for blood.\u00a0 Oldman shows in this movie how great he can be as a crazy yet fitting into society character.\u00a0 Besson later gave him the part of possible the \u201cultimate\u201d crazy bad guy in The Fifth Element.\u00a0 The rest of the cast does great with each of their parts however small they may be, which I believe is a testament to the quality of writing and directing provided by Besson.<\/p>\n

Now, why is this movie a must-see?\u00a0 The sheer quality of it should be enough.\u00a0 On top of that quality is the awesomeness of some of its scenes like the final showdown which is just breathtaking in its beautiful violence.\u00a0 Also, there is the fact that it is Natalie Portman\u2019s debut movie and you can watch her act as well as her seasoned counterparts.\u00a0 If that is not enough, there is Gary Oldman, who everyone should love as an actor or at the very least have high respect for.
\nThis movie is a good place to start if you are unfamiliar with the works of Luc Besson outside of the movies he produced (The Transporter, the Taxi movies, From Paris With Love, B13, \u2026).<\/p>\n

Leon is a favorite of mine and many others.\u00a0 If it has not yet achieved cult status, it should soon.\u00a0 Leon is cool, he is even referred to in the Swollen Members song \u201cSo Deadly\u201d featuring Evidence, when it goes \u201cI\u2019m the Professional, I always bring my plant\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lastly, if you can, find the extended, or European, cut with 25 minutes more footage which sets a completely different tone as Mathilda is shown participating in hits and flirting with Leon.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get this last part wrong, this does not mean that Leon is a creepy old man, as he does not return her advances.<\/p>\n

So, if you\u2019ve yet to see The Professional or Leon: The Professional, do yourself a favor and put it on your queue, rent it, or buy it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leon is a hit man, the best hit man working for Tony.\u00a0 He kills without a sound, without any emotion, he has only one rule \u201cno woman, no child\u201d, he\u2019s the perfect hit man.\u00a0 Leon lives in the same building as Mathilda and her dysfunctional family.\u00a0 Mathilda\u2019s father is a drug-dealer who does not care […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1717],"tags":[58,240,302,367,391,614,840,1087],"class_list":["post-4472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pcthugs","category-yhts","tag-action","tag-crime","tag-drama","tag-foreign","tag-gangster","tag-luc-besson","tag-revenge","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25338,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4472\/revisions\/25338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}