REVIEW: LEON:THE PROFESSIONAL [1994]

REVIEW# 30
MOVIE : LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL [1994]
Genre: Action/Crime/Thriller/Drama
Cast: Natalie Portman,Jean Reno,Gary Oldman
Director: Luc Bessan
IMDb rating : 8.6/10
Deeps rating : 9/10
Verdict: A crime thriller at the best it can be. A MUST WATCH.Hat's off to Natalie Portman.

  The word 'OK' has never been used better, any where in history.Mathilda Lando[Natalie Portman], lost all his family after an assault by DEA agents ,who helped drug dealers.She gets saved from being killed as she knocks on the neighbor's door.After lots of pleading and crying he opens the door and thus she escape the killers.The neighbor was none other than Leon Montana[Jean Reno]who used to talk with the girl always and treats her with kindness and care.Leon in fact is an Italian hit-man working for a mafia person called Tony ,and loves to live a solitary life.Mathilda now becomes his responsibility,but the young 12 year girl seems to be more matured and sharp than her age.She has still all the innocence of a kid but soon Leon finds that she has a mind of a whiz.She comes to know that Leon is a hit man and she asks him to teach her the cleaning job he does.Leon refuse to teach her the dirty job first but finally the whiz inside her prompts Leon to teach her the initial lessons of shooting.

 She turns out to be a quick learner and finally Leon is forced to take her up as a partner in his engagements,which he loved doing alone.But Mathilda there too surprises Leon with her whiz and both make a perfect pair as hit men.Mathilda teaches Leon to read and write and helped in shopping and households.Leon protects and cares her as his only family but soon his care and love ignites the passion of love inside Mathilda.This puts Leon in a spot of bother and he tries to convince her and explain her,his dark past.Meanwhile Leon make arrangements with Tony to handover all his earnings to Mathilda in case something happen to him in between.

             The fire inside Mathilda to take revenge on her family's killers doesn't subside even though  Leon warns her that revenge is a not a good thought and the very idea will destroy her.But the young Mathilda one day decide to go alone to the FED office where the killers are working,after thinking and making a plan of herself and that too when Leon is away.But the chief DEA agent Norman Stanfield [Gary Oldman]who himself is a drug addict,uncovers her motive and imprisons her.With death awaiting her,the only fortune in front of her is Leon to come up and rescue her.Leon on his return finds a letter of Mathilda in their room and  he arrives promptly at the scene and saves the young girl by killing two DEA agents.But it was enough to break the hell loose and the whole unit of Fed's are alerted and they get ready wipe off both Leon and Mathilda.

        Norman puts a whole army of trained cops behind both and a war starts out in their apartment between this army and Leon.Can Leon's one man army save himself and the little Mathilda???What will happen to Mathilda if Leon gets killed??Watch it for yourself because this movie will never disappoint you.It has action,drama,thrill and romance.The last 15 minutes of this movie will provide you with the most mind blowing action sequences in movie world.It's a great watch with a near perfect climax.
       I can write pages and pages in this blog about Natalie Portman and her movies as I am a huge fan of her.In fact I started this blog with a Natalie Portman movie.But this movie is so special because here is the 11 year old Natalie,a child artist,just like any other kid trying to make it big in Hollywood.She grew up from this movie to a superstar actress now,with an Oscar award in her living room along with many other awards.The scene in the movie where Mathilda gets drunk for the first time in life and starts laughing,is something you will remember always.
        Jean Reno is a perfect fit for characters like Leon,as a simple,solitary guy who is well balanced and cool.Gary Oldman gave a stand out performance as the antagonist.But the real fact behind this movie's excellence is its neat yet simple script and execution.The Director and crew deserves a lot of applause for this.In whole this movie is a very very SMART MOVIE!!!!!!!

   I am Deepak Unnikrishnan and I will be back with another movie from old school.

TIP OF THE DAY: CARE AND DILIGENCE BRING LUCK.