Rent Léon: The Professional on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Luc Besson
Directed by: Luc Besson
Starring: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman, Danny Aiello
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
Léon, a professional assassin, reluctantly takes in twelve-year-old Mathilda after her family is murdered. An unusual relationship forms as she becomes his protégée and learns the assassin's trade.
Verdict
This has such a unique dynamic between two characters. This serves as the basis for the evolution of both characters. Both teach the other valuable lessons. This movie strikes a balance between plenty of action and small character moments. It has so many great scenes, and it's well acted all around with Gary Oldman packing a punch in a limited role.
Watch It.
Review
I saw this long ago, and I really like the movie. It's sweet, as far as an assassin training a child can be, but this captures an emotional bond between two people. This is Leon's (Jean Reno) story. We see him experience immense emotional growth. He's very different at the end of the movie compared to the beginning.
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| Jean Reno plays Leon |
The first scene jumps right into it with Leon getting a job and then executing the contract. We barely see him. He's some kind of ghost, silently dispatching an entire armed crew of criminals. It's clear in less than ten minutes he's really good. When we finally see Leon, it's clear why the movie didn't fully show him. He doesn't look like an assassin. If we had seen him in full, we would have wondered if he was capable. By showing him in action first, there's no question.
We see how sparsely Leon lives. He has nothing but a plant. This shows us how lonely his life is, but at this point we, and certainly Leon, don't realize it.
The antithesis to Leon is Stansfield (Gary Oldman). Both men kill but for different reasons. Stansfield is menacing and strange. Whenever a character gets overly personal or close with a stranger, you know that is movie code that this person is crazy. Gary Oldman does such a great job in the role. It would be easy to make the character cartoonish, but Oldman finds ways to ground it. The script also helps, from the beginning making music important to Stansfield. That's his thing, past all the killing.
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| Natalie Portman, Jean Reno play Matilda, Leon |
What links Leon and Stansfield is Matilda (Natalie Portman). She's the middle child in an abusive household, twelve going on twenty-two. Leon saves her from Stansfield. This is a great way to make an assassin likable, provide a character that's completely vile.
The scene where Leon saves Matilda is such a great scene, these three characters intersect in one moment, and the movie has built up each of them. Leon is then faced with a decision of what to do. A child doesn't fit with his lifestyle. I don't think a guy like this would really taken on a child protege, but the movie hinges on this fun fiction. In the moment he doesn't have a choice, and she will teach him to read as he's illiterate. It's mutually beneficial. Being Leon's story, this gives him a level of compassion he probably didn't know he had. It also makes him realize how empty his life has been.
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| Gary Oldman plays Stansfield |
Matilda has an ill advised plan to get revenge. Leon has to step in, and I have to question how easily he was able to save her, but I get from a story standpoint the movie doesn't want a big shootout just yet. I don't see how Leon can assault two security guards at the front door, proceed into the building, and then walk back out.
The ending of this is awesome. Great acting all around, and you've got to give credit to Besson. I don't think he's ever topped this. Taken comes close as far as action, but it drops any character development. The crux of this movie is the evolution of Leon's emotional understanding. His life was empty, and he got to experience a platonic relationship, something he hadn't had in years. He got to live figuratively.
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