#28 Léon - Hired hitman with child like qualities

1994. dir. Luc Besson, starring Jean Reno, Natalie Portman, Gary Oldman, Danny Aiello. Also released as The Professional.

Seen it before? The last half several times...

If you've ever wondered what kind of person makes a good hit man you could read a bunch of books about it...biographies about men or women who were hired hands (obviously caught) and then gave their stories...or you could watch this movie and wonder if there are hit men out there who are like Léon - Cold and calculating while on the job, and who happens to be a loner who takes care of a plant, doesn't know how to read (and therefore is taken advantage of by the man who sets up most of his hits), drinks milk and works out on a regular basis, and then spends his time at the movies watching Gene Kelly movies...and then takes in a girl who just lost her family and teaches her the art of the clean.

I thought Jean Reno was excellent. I've seen him in French Kiss, the Da Vinci Code, Mission Impossible and now this and I just love him. He plays both sides, good guy and bad quite well. I think now I'm going to have to watch La Femme Nikita. My favorite line of his was:
Léon: No women, no kids, that's the rules.
And I just loved watching his interpretation of John Wayne during charades! Hilarious!
I also loved his relationship with Mathilda because it was truly innocent...and it bothers me that people made it seem creepy. The man was practically Forrest Gump in terms of his sexuality (or lack thereof) and his child-like qualities of drinking milk and enjoying Gene Kelly movies. These lines speak for themselves:
Mathilda: Leon, I think I'm kinda falling in love with you.
[Leon chokes on his milk]
Mathilda: It's the first time for me, you know?
Léon: [wiping himself off] How do you know it's love if you've never been in love before?
Mathilda: 'Cause I feel it.
Léon: Where?
Mathilda: [stoking her stomach] In my stomach. It's all warm. I always had a knot there and now... it's gone.
Léon: Mathilda, I'm glad you don't have a stomach ache any more. I don't think it means anything.

Now onto Natalie Portman - it's interesting to watch someone grow up on screen who is a year younger than me...and more interesting that I've practically done it backwards- The Other Boleyn Girl, The Darjeeling Limited, Where the Heart is, the new Star Wars movies, Everyone Says I Love You, and now this movie. She says that this was her acting school on the featurette that came with the movie. I for one can't imagine being 11 and working on this particular movie but I'm sure it was certainly a learning experience! And I can't disagree with Sam about Padme, but I can say that Harrison Ford said it best, "You can type this shit, George, but you sure can't say it."

Meanwhile Gary Oldman just bothers me in the same way Christopher Walken bothers me. Both are incredibly great actors but both really creep me out. I hated what Gary Oldman's character was about. It enraged me that he killed the kids of the guy he was after....and then lied about it!

Would I see it again? I have and probably will in the future
Would I add it to my collection? No, it makes me too angry.

#28 Léon: There is rules

1994. dir. Luc Besson, starring Jean Reno, Natalie Portman, Gary Oldman, Danny Aiello. Also released as The Professional.

Seen it before? No.

Your Uncle Arthur used to have a saying: "Shoot 'em all and let God sort them out." Unfortunately, one day he put his theory into practice. It took seventy-five Federal Marshals to bring him down. Now let's never speak of this again.

- Marge Simpson

This was quite a bizarre movie. Jean Reno plays Léon, a hitman living in New York. He's an odd sort of guy; I think he has Apserger's syndrome or something. He seems to not have much in the way of interests or hobbies, except going to see old movies. Drinks milk a lot. He's a really good hitman, though: the first thing we see him do is take down five heavily armed guards.

So anyway, his neighbor is some sort of drug courier, with three kids. He steals some cocaine from his boss Gary Oldman, who proceeds to shoot the place up. Only the daughter Mathilda (Natalie Portman) survives. She's 12 or so, but she smokes, swears, dresses like a hooker, etc. Also she's sort of a psychopath. Gary Oldman is too, come to think of it; he plays that same crazy drugged out guy he usually plays. So Mathilda hides out with Léon, and he teaches her how to "clean" people... you know, kill them.

Natalie Portman does a good job of skating the line between little girl and adult, and Jean Reno is pretty interesting as a guy who clearly isn't all with it, but overall I wasn't a huge fan.

Position on the list: 34 Really? 34th? that can't be right.
Amusing thing Natalie Portman said in the Blu-Ray bonus interview: "The Professional was sort of like my acting school." Looks like you forgot your lessons there, Padme.