WOW... can't believe it took me so long to see this movie! Before anything... I must say that Natalie Portman never ceases to amaze me. This is her first movie and I've yet to see any acting even close to this level from a young actor. Her performance as Mathilda has no equal in my book. Anyway, back to the movie :). The Professonal follows the life of introvert hit-man Leon, played by Jean Reno. Leon lives modestly and quietly in a shabby apartment building. Down the hall lives a quirky little girl named Mathilda (Natalie Portman). To avoid her drug dealing dad, hooker mom, and bully older sister she spends a lot of time out in the hallway. The only person she cares about is her little brother. One day Mathilda is on her way home from the grocery and finds her apartment door ajar. Inside.. she sees her murdered family, even her baby brother. Leon takes her in a protects her, and upon request, he trains her to be a hit-man so that one day she may avenge her brother. "Bad guy" Stanfield, played by the talented Gary Oldman, is a corrupt cop who is in the drug business. Stanfield is responisble for the murder of Mathilda's family. Leon: The Professional is very fast paced and intense, a top-notch cop and criminal movie. If you haven't seen it and aren't easily disturbed by violence, watch it ASAP!
I can't believe I haven't seen this one either!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that certain actors resonate in one or two films for me, but the rest of their work passes without me seeing it.
I enjoyed Reno in Ronin, and I also saw him in our mutual favourite French Kiss.
As for Natalie Portman, I remember her from Heat which is one of my favourite films from the 90's. Outside of that the only other film I've seen her in was that period piece which co-starred Scarlett Johansson, was it The Other Boleyn Girl?
I really should make the effort to watch this one!
Not sure what genre of movies you like but I also loved her in Beautiful Girls, Paris, Je T'aime, and BLack Swan. I have not seen Heat so I guess that's one I'll have to track down. As far as Reno, this is the first thing I've seen he play a lead role in and it makes me wonder why he doesn't have the lead more often. A co-worker actually just loaned me Ronin so I'll be watching that soon. I did see The Other Boleyn Girl it wasn't my favorite movie in the whole world, plus I'm not a huge fan of Scarlett Johansson. The only movie I really enjoyed Johansson in was The Girl with the Pearl Earring.
ReplyDeleteI like all genres but I'm not a huge fan of the new releases, my taste in films extends from the late 1990's backwards, that's why I haven't seen a lot of Natalie Portman's work.
DeleteI actually only watched part of The Other Boleyn Girl but I did love Scarlett in Lost In Translation, that's a film that really took me by surprise.
You'll have to make up your own mind about Ronin and Heat, both are quite convoluted, and might appear slow.
Although Ronin does feature one of the best car chase scenes since Bullitt.