 Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman and Danny Aiello star in Leon, a go-for-broke thriller about a professional assassin whose work becomes dangerously personal. Calling himself a "cleaner," the mysterious Leon is New York's top hit man. When his next-door neighbors are murdered, Leon becomes the unwilling guardian of the family's sole survivor - 12-year-old Mathilda. But Mathilda doesn't just want protection, she wants revenge. Training her in the deadly tricks of his trade, Leon helps her track the psychotic agent who murdered her family. From the electrifying opening to the fatal finale, Leon is a nonstop crescendo of action, suspense and surprises. This uncut version contains 24 minutes of extra footage deemed too explicit for the American audience. Storyline: Mathilda, a twelve-year old New York girl, is living an undesirable life among her half-family. Her father stores drugs for two-faced cop Norman Stansfield. Only her little brother keeps Mathilda from breaking apart. One day, Stansfield and his team take cruel revenge on her father for stretching the drugs a little, thus killing the whole family. Only Mathilda, who was out shopping, survives by finding shelter in Léon's apartment in the moment of highest need. Soon, she finds out about the strange neighbour's unusual profession - killing - and desperately seeks his help in taking revenge for her little brother. Léon, who is completely unexperienced in fatherly tasks, and in friendships, does his best to keep Mathilda out of trouble - unsuccessfully. Now, the conflict between a killer, who slowly discovers his abilities to live, to feel, to love and a corrupt police officer, who does anything in his might to get rid of an eye witness, arises to unmeasurable proportions - all for the ... Written by Julian Reischl Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman on November 10, 2009 -- I like these calm little moments before the storm. --- It's the "calm little moments" that elevate Léon above and well beyond the plethora of both "Hitman" action-oriented movies and most any general Action picture out there. Director Luc Besson's (The Fifth Element) magnum opus blends hard-hitting action with both revenge-oriented drama and heartfelt sincerity in the film's superbly-developed relationship between killer and child. Léon understands that human complexities, drama, and consideration for the calm moments in between the action sequences are what make or break a film and separate the best of the genre from the doldrums of repetitive video-game style run-and-gun action that's barely recognizable one from another. Léon not only tells a story to compliment the action, but it constructs a powerful and moving tale that delivers real people with real feelings, real motivations, real skills, and most importantly, real souls to accentuate the purpose of the action. It doesn't hurt, either, that Besson proves himself a master craftsman of action in Léon, and the two combined make for one of the strongest films of its kind. Hitman Léon (Jean Reno, Godzilla) is the best in the business, a true professional, taking out his targets with stealth and deadly efficiency. His next door neighbor is a young girl named Mathilda (Natalie Portman, Closer) who lives a life of abuse at the hands of her detached and uncaring parents. When her family is murdered by a gang led by a man named Stansfield (Gary Oldman, Bram Stoker's Dracula) as part of a drug deal gone bad, Léon reluctantly takes her in and soon finds himself with more than he bargained for. Mathilda wants Léon to teach her how to be a "cleaner," or hitman, so she can exact her revenge on Stansfield for the murder of her innocent four-year-old brother. Léon reluctantly agrees but soon finds that Mathilda sees him as more than a mentor and father figure, complicating both their relationship and her drive for vengeance that Léon himself cannot ignore. Léon is a film that explores the human condition in the context of a world at its worst. Through the corruption, hate, greed, and violence that has influenced and, now, come to define young Mathilda's life, the film examines innocence that threatens to succumb to the very things that have torn her world apart. The film's crux stems from the fact that she finds comfort, solace, and even a misplaced romantic attraction in a man who is, himself, made of violence, but not of hate. Unlike Stansfield, Léon is fully capable of both understanding and respecting the distinction between the two and the resultant effect on the mind, body, and soul. Also unlike the people that murdered Mathilda's family, Léon works by a stringent set of rules that may not cleanse his soul of the deeds he's done, but they certainly allow him to, in a way, convey to Mathilda the distinction between "cleaning" the world of its most vile scum and haphazardly murdering both the guilty and the innocent with no respect for life or the deadly force that those that choose a life of violence truly wield. In that context, the action of Léon is enhanced many times over. The film shows violence in several unique contexts: killing for misguided or otherwise unscrupulous reasons; killing those that, in some way or another, a justification may be made for their deaths; and killing -- and the seemingly unquenchable desire to do so -- for revenge. Each perspective, then, is witnessed through three sets of eyes: the guilty, the innocent, and a man caught somewhere in between. It's the in-between character -- Léon -- that proves the film's most fascinating. The movie creates a wonderful dichotomy that sees him in one scene a brutally efficient killer and, later, as a man that seems caught in a world from which he cannot escape thanks to his lack of education and, by extension, lack of options for a fruitful life outside the world of violence that defines his personal history and prevents him from finding that one thing that could reshape his life: true love. He kills not for money but merely because it's what he's always done, what's come to define his life for better or for worse, and Mathilda's place in his life allows him to find meaning in something other than the care for his plant, an act which symbolizes his desire to nurture rather than destroy, and by extension, his nurturing of Mathilda -- even if it means teaching her to be like him -- gives him a purpose in life that was absent before. Luc Besson's action scenes take on a new tone and purpose when seen through the eyes of each character, and therein lies Léon's greatest strength. Suffice it to say, however, that Léon is also a success thanks to the high quality acting that permeates the entire film. Gary Oldman delivers another top-notch and Oscar-worthy performance in Léon; while it may not be his signature role, it's one of his very best. One of the finest actors of his or any other generation, he has an uncanny ability to completely lose himself in each and every role he plays, and his effort in Léon is no exception. Deliciously deviant, thoroughly dangerous, morally repugnant, and concealing a secret that adds an additional layer of complexity to his motivation, Oldman's character proves a challenge the actor conquers in every scene-chewing moment. His performance is easily the highlight of the movie from a more technical perspective, besting even the efforts of his fellow actors and Besson's marvelous direction. Still, Léon would not be the success that it is without an almost equally strong performance from Jean Reno. At once both deadly and emotional, Reno plays his character with a superb balance that's reinforced by an undertone of innocence and desire to better his life that allows him to both accept and understand Mathilda on almost every level. Likewise, a young Natalie Portman turns in what is, to date, her strongest performance, no doubt aided by what is the best character and script she's had to work with. Léon is an exceptional film on every level: thematically, emotionally, and technically. The star of the film isn't the action but rather the meaning behind it, an engrossing look at the loss of innocence, the quest for vengeance, and the search for purpose in life. Few Action films cover such a broad spectrum of emotion as Léon, and its deeper philosophical overtones are supported by a trio of exceptional performances, notably from Gary Oldman in a trademark performance, all of which accentuate the action many times over. Sony's Blu-ray release is technically solid. Both picture and sound quality are very good, and the included supplements are few in number but rather high in quality. Highly recommended. Cast Notes: Jean Reno (Léon), Gary Oldman (Norman Stansfield), Natalie Portman (Mathilda), Danny Aiello (Tony), Peter Appel (Malky), Willie One Blood (Stansfield's Men), Don Creech [I] (Stansfield's Men), Keith A. Glascoe (Stansfield's Men), Randolph Scott [II] (Stansfield's Man), Michael Badalucco (Mathilda's Father), Ellen Greene (Mathilda's Mother), Elizabeth Regen (Mathilda's Sister), Carl J. Matusovich (Mathilda's Brother), Frank Senger (Fatman), Lucius 'Cherokee' Wyatt (Tonto). User Comment: Gjay2 from manchester, 25 April 2003 • Luc Besson will never top this movie. This is his benchmark, his classical composition. Look at the precise, intricate scenes. It's a symphony in cinema. Straight off, it's action. Intelligently shot, and scripted. It makes everything that follows hard to live upto. But it does so easily. It's stylish without being showy, it's deep without being sentimental. And it's just hugely enjoyable. Seeing the friendship between newly orphaned Mathilda and skilled assasin Leon bloom, is tenderly done. At risk of slipping into a sappy bond, besson keeps it easy on the emotions, without coming off as shallow. The actors are all spot on, most notably the debut from a young Natalie Portman as Mathilda. Showing an angry, sad, pent up, in love girl is no simple task but she breezes through it, touching all the right notes. And Jean Reno as the title character, is minimal but very effecting. Hard to understand, but easy to relate too. But Gary Oldman steals it, with his glorious overacting. He's as scary as he is determind. His line delivery is almost perfect. And his fate is very fitting. If only they made more intelligent action movies, then they could contend with this film. But as it stands right now, Leon is one of the best action dramas ever made. Summary: A symphony in film. Trivia:
IMDb Rating (04/20/14): 8.6/10 from 506,921 users Top 250: #27 IMDb Rating (11/16/09): 8.6/10 from 175,428 users Top 250: #34
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
