Leon: The Professional

Leon: The Professional
"Leon is a hitman, and happy with his life. When a young girl comes home to find her family has been killed by a drug dealer, she runs to him for help. When she discovers he is a hitman, she asks him to teach her the skills to take her revenge." 


3 Stars 
How do you reconcile the contrast that can arise between a piece of brilliant acting and a case of underwhelming story telling?  Furthermore, how do you rate a film when you have simultaneous guilt about begrudgingly overpraising a weak script in order to avoid dismissing a bevy of superb performances?  Well, in the words of my father, "You just suck it up."


Leon: The Professional is a movie that begins with all the promise in the world.  With virtually no exposition, the audience is thrown into the cold, calculated world of contract killing.  Leon (Jean Reno) is given an order to hit a group of thieves who are just passing through NYC.  We aren't told why they're bad guys, and we don't really need to know.  All that matters is that there's are bounties on their heads, and the ill-fated bastards were unlucky enough to have their numbers picked by Leon.  The tension created by the opening scene itself is stressful, if not almost palpable.  The skill and finesse shown by Leon as he deftly picks off each unsuspecting victim is almost as eerie at it is impressive.  Suffice it to say, he makes Jason Bourne and his commendable skills almost look rough and undisciplined.  But, the scene also gives us a glimpse into the code that Leon lives by, "No Women.  No Children."  While it may seem paradoxical, this concept of "moral standards" for a contract killer is necessary for the story line because, how else is the film maker going to get the audience to pull for an amoral leading man who literally kills for a living?


Enter Mathilda (Natalie Portman) who was able to act at a level that no 13 year old girl has any business to be acting.  I hurt with every one of her tears and I rejoiced with every one of her smiles.  I cannot describe it, but this little girl enthralled to a degree that I found myself genuinely concerned with her safety and emotional state, even though every logical part of my brain kept reminding me that it was all just "for pretends".  I know she just won an Oscar for this year's Black Swan, but if I had my way, she would have placed that golden statue on her mantle 17 years earlier.


And it wasn't just the performance of Reno and Portman that carried the team.  The supporting cast of Danny Aiello and Michael Badalucco was firing on all cylinders, too.  But the highlight outside of the primary duo was unquestionably Gary Oldman in one of his first major Hollywood roles.  Oldman plays Stansfield a corrupt, ironically drug addicted DEA agent who is the quintessential loose cannon.  These are the types of villains who really get my adrenaline pumping in a movie.  These kinds of characters who follow no rules and show no mercy to anyone or anything that stands in their way.  You honestly do find yourself convinced that Stansfield is going to kill the 13 year old Portman in the first 15 minutes of the film, even though you're head reminds you that's not going to happen because the movie is two hours long and you may need a protagonist.  There is a fine line between a crazed lunatic and psychotic villain that Oldman treads terrifically.


But, alas, the performances (as spectacular as they are) are pretty much the only thing worth praising about the film.  While the direction is above average, the story just leaves so much to be desired.  The back stories of Leon, Mathilda, and Stansfield are only touched upon, and I found it hard to wrap my head around all that was going without knowing what the characters motives were.  The scenes involving Mathilda's "training" almost felt like an afterthought and the subtle undertones of a potential sexual relationship between Mathilda and Leon was just bizarre.  While in most situations "less is more", in the particular case I felt that further developing the relationships of all the main characters could have done nothing but enhance the plot.


So, while I wanted so badly for this one to become one of my more revered films, I think it has to fall into the category of a disappointment.  Don't get me wrong, I think it's definitely worth watching, but you will have to power through a couple aspects.  Because the movie was shot in the early nineties, the wardrobe and hair styles reflect as such.  Maybe it's just me and my snobbish ways, but I sometimes have trouble taking seriously the guy in a Miami Vice green suit and Kenny G hair firing off rounds from an Uzi, but maybe I'm just old fashioned that way.  But, if you're looking for some shoot 'em up, you're going to find it.  The movie isn't gory, per se, but it is most definitely bloody, and I'm talking Tarentino bloody.  There is definitely a legitimate argument that could be made implying the movie may have been somewhat diminished by getting sucked in to the explosions and car chases that seemed to permeate the 90s film landscape.  So, while one of the final scenes might end (quite literally) with a bang, for me it was just a whimper.