I am The Professional Reviewer!
3.5/4 stars

Luc Besson follows up his explosive international success La Femme Nikita with another story about assassins and the resulting film is even better than his previous effort. From its super-stylish beginning—a directorial trademark—we know we are in for a full-on cinematic experience. From the word go we have stunning action set pieces combined with some genuinely touching and funny scenes as well as sharp dialogue but what makes this film so special is the on-screen chemistry of its two leads. Jean Reno as the soft-spoken—and somewhat naïve—but deadly French hit-man and Natalie Portman as the ballsy pre-teen determined to seek revenge on the psychotic cop who killed her family. There are plenty of humorous moments in this incredible film and some memorable one-liners including: "Somebody's coming up… somebody serious". The underlying Lolita-style storyline is sometimes uncomfortable but strangely compelling and never gratuitous. Matilda sees Leon as a father-figure and he feels duty bound to protect her, however as the relationship becomes stronger Matilda confuses her feelings for something more sexual—leaving Leon gob smacked and ultimately getting them evicted from their hotel.

No can deny that this is an action film but whereas something like Die Hard relies on a basic premise and lots of explosions, Leon manages to fuse Hollywood's obsessions for all things pyrotechnic with a proper story and excellent script. Like all good action films there must be a bad guy and in Gary Oldman's Stansfield we have the epitome of bad. He is so downright nasty that he makes the Wicked Witch of the West look like the Fairy Godmother. It is never explained what pills he is constantly swallowing or why he must make such melodramatic actions in order to swallow them and this makes his character even more menacing. He is murderous, unpredictable and unhinged and not even his classical music obsession can calm him into any kind of rational thought. Gary Oldman, often typecast as the bad guy, shows us once again that he is an incredibly versatile and brilliant actor and it's a great travesty that he wasn't nominated for an Oscar for his performance.

The complete lack of recognition this film received at the time of release is astounding with only the Japanese Academy, Czech Lions and César Awards nominating it for prizes. Since then however its reputation has grown and Leon is now recognised as a true masterpiece of modern cinema and its director Luc Besson regarded as one of the most exiting talents to come out of Europe since the French New Wave. Not before or since has an action film had such a massive impact on its audience and with its reputation amongst film fans still growing one can only imagine in how much esteem it will be regarded by future generations.

Review by Wolfman