Film: Leon: The Professional (1994)

“Revenge is not a good thing, it’s better to forget.” – Leon

Leon: The Professional is a crime drama written and directed by the French director, Luc Besson. It stars Jean Reno, Natalie Portman and Gary Oldman, and follows the titular character Leon (Reno), an expert assassin who lives a solitary life in New York City. His world gets a little more complicated when he reluctantly takes charge of Mathilda (Portman), a twelve-year-old girl, after her family is murdered.

By including some truly stellar visual storytelling moments, Besson’s script and direction do a remarkable job of expressing a story about growth and forgiveness. There were a few times where I felt that the score was a little intrusive and it took away from the emotion of the scene.

The performances are what elevate Leon. Jean Reno plays the deadly hitman with a heart to near perfection in one of the most subtly vulnerable performances I have ever seen. Natalie Portman (who was eleven when she was cast) kills it as Mathilda. Do child performances get any better than this? Nope.

There is no way I can finish this review without talking about Norman Stansfield: the primary antagonist played by Gary Oldman, who is at his pure psychotic best. He definitely deserved more screen time. Maybe even all of it.

If you’re looking for a warm story about a symbiotic relationship between two very contrasting individuals, with some bullets and bloodshed, give Leon: The Professional a call. He’ll be sure to get the job done, capiche?