Leon (1994) Directed by Luc Besson

Nick :
I'm coming down with flu, so Sunday needs to be an undemanding movie experience. Around the time of Leon's release Besson was being touted as some kind of serious director. Subway (1985), Le Grand Bleu (1988) and Nikita (1990) established the Frenchman as a director with style and a good eye for action. Leon was Besson's real international introduction (the Director also scripted).
The story of a contract killer reluctantly taking in a 12 year old who's family have been wiped out by some seriously crooked members of the NYPD caused a stir. Yes, the Professional Killer Leon (good performance from Jean Reno) develops a not so ambiguous relationship with the 12 year old Mathilda (a never been better Natalie Portman). The way this relationship develops is the focus and the main interest for me in this film. It's moving, touching and a little funny. The rest, well...the violence is slick and flashy, the plot is full of holes and somewhat lacking plausibility. The script and characterization is vacuous at best. Special mention has to go to Gary Oldman as Stansfield, the evil, psychotic Detective who pops pills, wipes out Mathilda's family and is generally crazy throughout. This is pure ham from Oldman, one of the great over acting performances that would make mid period Pacino proud. People really rate this film. It's certainly not aged well, but it's still entertaining in a trashy kinda way. Besson however, is a man with little taste. Having Sting play out over the closing credits is unforgivable.