Leon: The Professional

"Is life always this hard, or is it just when you're a kid?"

"Always like this."

Leon (Reno) is a professional hitman.  He lives alone and interacts with few people.  He occasionally interacts with Mathilda (Portman) his 12 year old neighbor, who he catches smoking in the hallway.  Mathilda's father (Michael Badalucco) is holding drugs for unhinged DEA Agent Stansfield (Oldman).  Stansfield noticed a discrepancy in the drugs and holds Mathilda's father responsible.  The next day the DEA arrive at the apartment and murder Mathilda's family, including her 4 year old brother (Carl J. Matusovich).  Mathilda is buying groceries and hides in Leon's apartment until the police leave.

Mathilda is devastated by the loss of her brother and vows revenge.  Leon and Mathilda strike up a unique arrangement: he will teach her to be a cleaner like him, and she will do the cleaning / shopping.  With Stansfield and his men looking for Mathilda, can Leon keep her alive long enough to avenge her brother?

I discovered this film after a friend mentioned enjoying it.  It is the film debut of Natalie Portman, who was 11 during filming.  Even at such a young age she commands the screen and makes you believe this character is capable of the things she is doing.  She shares most scenes with French actor Jean Reno, who played a similar character in director Luc Besson's previous film La Femme Nikita.  Reno has a strong screen presence and minimal dialog.  His quiet performance is in stark contrast to Gary Oldman as the unhinged villain.  Oldman plays to the rafters and nails another iconic villain role:

Oldman's Stanfill has a series of unique ticks and unsettling soliloquies.  Apparently some of these characteristics were not rehearsed and the reactions of the other actors are genuine, as they did not know what he was going to do / say.

This film was the American debut of director Besson.  I am not overly familiar with his filmography, having only seen a handle of films that he wrote and directed (The Fifth Element and Lucy), but I enjoyed all of those films.  It is a good action flick with enough carnage (but not an abundance of gore) to appease most audience members.

Leon: The Professional (1994) 110 minutes
Rating: R for scenes of strong graphic violence, and for language
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Jean Reno as Leon
Gary Oldman as Stansfield
Natalie Portman as Mathilda
Danny Aiello as Tony
Peter Appel as Malky