Now Viewing: leon_the_professionalTag type: Copyright Tag refers to the iconic 1994 crime action drama written and directed by Luc Besson and starring Jean_Reno, Natalie Portman, and Gary Oldman. The music is composed by Eric Serra. Leone Montana (Leon) is an Italian hit man living alone in New York. He works for an Italian-American crime boss named Tony. On the job, he is ruthless and efficient and has never been caught by either fellow criminals or the police. Off the job, he is gentle and almost innocent in demeanor, watching classic musicals, drinking nothing but milk, and spending a lot of time nurturing a houseplant which is very important to him. Outside of Tony, he does not associate with anyone. This changes once the very troubled preteen girl Mathilda Lando knocks on his door one day, pleading with him to let her inside. Mathilda's entire family has been murdered by the corrupt DEA agents lead by Norman Stansfeld. Mathilda's father was paid to keep cocaine in his apartment and upon discovering that some of the drugs were missing, Stansfeld flew into a homicidal rage and massacred the entire family save Mathilda because she wasn't home. Leon decides to take her in and the two of them develop a close relationship. Mathilda wants Leon to teach her how to be an assassin so that she can avenge her little brother who was killed by Stansfield and his men. She also develops a crush on Leon but although he cares for her, he only sees her as a friend/daughter figure. Although the two lonely individuals have found companionship, Leon's job and Mathilda's desire for vengeance eventually catch the attention of Stansfield. . . There are two different versions of the film, a longer International Version, and a US theatrical cut. While the plot is the same for both versions, the International Version features more footage that expands on Leon training Mathilda as an assassin. This film is sort of an expansion of an idea in Besson's previous crime film, La Femme Nikita. In said film, Jean Reno plays a ruthless sunglasses and long coat wearing assassin named Victor. For this film, Besson decided to create a sympathetic American counterpart to said character who became the protagonist Leon. Reno also chose to play Leon as if he were more mentally slow and innocent in order to assuage any audience fears that the character may take advantage of Mathilda. The film was Natalie Portman's debut as an actress and she was actually as young as the character Mathilda is. Due to the non family friendly content of the movie as well as Mathilda's occasionally provocative behavior, this has sometimes provoked controversy, but the film's success would allow Portman to go on to have a successful acting career into adulthood. The film grossed $45 million dollars worldwide and received generally positive reviews. It won the Czech Lion Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing. Besson originally planned on making a sequel to the film titled Mathilda, which would have had an older Natalie Portman reprise her role, but the film was essentially canceled. Since the film's production, Besson left the studio that produced this film, Gaumont Film Company, to form his own studio EuropaCorp. Gaumont, however, still had the rights to the film and refused to allow Besson to make a sequel. Many of the ideas that Besson had for the sequel were recycled for the 2011 film Colombiana. Leon's assassin costume of a beanie, sunglasses, and longcoat is often homaged and parodied. His habit of taking care of a potted plant is also often homaged. The character Leon from Dead or Alive is an homage to Leon from this movie. Other Wiki Information Last updated: 07/12/19 11:02 AM by jojosstand This entry is not locked and you can edit it as you see fit. |
     
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