In a previous or future life, I was or will be a hit man. Or a sniper/soldier of fortune. Or both. Don't worry, I have only killed/will only kill people who deserve to die. (I understand this is a huge philosophical can of worms, but it's my fantasy now here people.) So yes, I was a badass, stealthy, gun-toting so and so... How else can you explain my fascination with sniper/hit man movies? (Of course, this means I was a pirate and a robot once or in the future too, so maybe my argument is a bit weak.)
Nevertheless, I watched an old but delightful movie this weekend that I missed while I was spending the 1990s chillin' with the Fresh Prince in my living room. Léon: The Professional came out in 1994 and... where has it been all my life?! Watch the trailer here.
Directed by Luc Besson, who directed La Femme Nikita and whose work I am about to become much more intimately acquainted with (who has his own section at Movie Maddness) - and starring an adorable 12-ish year old Natalie Portman (who I have totally forgiven for playing Queen Amidala), and the under-touted extremely sexy French/Moroccan/Spanish force of nature Jean Reno, it is a charming tale of a loner who has a desperate Dickensian child thrown in his life, and after much begging and cute manipulation by her, teaches her to be a "cleaner" too. She hits on him in a Lolita-like way, but he remains noble and heroic through all. You know, the way most hit men are.
So it's a fantasy I guess... and there is a lot of heist-like action and suspense. Natalie Portman is adorable to the bone. Oh, yeah. And Gary Oldman is in it. And that alone should be enough.
I saw this for the first time three years ago and found it similarly compelling. Natalie Portman mixes the vulnerability of a young girl with a determination to exert control over her out of control environment. Jean Reno gets to show more facets of the tough and, above all, meticulously competent cleaner role that he embodied for but a few scenes in La Femme Nikita. Together they explore a gamut of emotions and human relations that begins with her being entirely dependent on him to open a simple door and ends with him being willing to close a chapter of her life.
Posted by: Toshio Kuratomi | May 19, 2013 at 09:01 AM