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Leon is a hitman, a professional killer with no equal. That much is clear to see from the opening scene. If there’s a chance you happen to come across him, it will most likely be your last. He’s precise and he’s sure. He seems to have little else in his life apart from his plant and classic films.
Natalie Portman, making her feature film debut here, plays Mathilda, a young girl suffering at the hands of her abusive foster family, living in an adjacent flat with her brother, but clearly knowing nothing about her neighbour’s occupation. Her foster father is involved with storing drugs and other corrupt activities for local bad guy Stansfield (Gary Oldman), who is in the police and not a man you want to double-cross. When he gives him 24 hours to explain why his latest batch of dope is 90% pure instead of 100%, you know what’s coming.
Leon ends up befriending Mathilda after some brief, chance meetings. She nips out to get some shopping for her family and also some milk for him, which is the only brightness to her day because he’s the only person who will talk to her and treat her with respect. While she’s out, Stansfield returns…
Unable to go back to life as it was, she insists on staying with him and for him to teach her how to be a ‘cleaner’, her ultimate aim being to get revenge on Stansfield because amongst all the bloodshed, her younger brother became a casualty. In return, she’ll help clean his flat and teach him how to read. Before Mathilda, all he had to care about was his pot plant, but she does begin to take a slightly unhealthy interest in him for a girl of 12, because she’s young and impressionable. He knows not to take advantage, though.
Leon is an example of absolute perfection in a film. Not only for the way Besson films it, or Eric Serra’s incidental music, but for the cast. Besson-regular Jean Reno excels as the silent killer, while Natalie Portman was a revelation in her first major role, and clearly she’s gone on to have a fantastic and varied career, one of my favourite films of hers being when she appeared alongside Zach Braff and Peter Sarsgaard in Garden State. Naturally, Danny Aiello provides great support on occasion as bar owner Tony, and friend to Leon, but the cast is topped off brilliantly by the inclusion of Gary Oldman in an outstanding performance as Stansfield, a man who is clearly several sandwiches short of a picnic.
This new release is not only the first time the film has appeared on Blu-ray but also contains both the theatrical and director’s cuts, the latter fleshing out the story more including additional scenes where Leon teaches Mathilda the tricks of the trade.
For the most part, the picture is nicely detailed throughout and reflects well Luc Besson‘s sharp eye for direction, filling the image with his 2.35:1 anamorphic vision, whether it’s the close-ups of any of the key cast’s faces or the glorious New York locations. There’s occasionally some shimmering, mostly notable in the black sections of the image, while at other times it just looks like a rather hazy print. This was observed on a Panasonic 37″ Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
The sound in DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio is without fault for the sound of gunfire, and also everything that happens in the last 20 minutes or so – which I won’t spoil here, but the intense background music that plays throughout most otherwise-quiet dramatic scenes.
The extras are as follows:
- 10 Year Retrospective (25:09): Split into 3 chapters, various cast and crew members talk about how the film came together with clips from the film in their original ratio also included, including the fact that the character of Leon was seen as a spin-off from Reno’s character in Nikita, and Besson’s ex, Maïwenn Le Besco, explains her relationship with Luc Besson.
- Natalie Portman: Starting Young (13:49): Natalie Portman talks about her first film experience.
- Jean Reno: The Road to Leon (12:24): Reno talks about growing up in Casablanca, Morocco, and how he originally got into making films.
- Trailer (1:48): In letterboxed 2.35:1.
The menu mixes footage from the film in black and white with some of its eerie music. There are English subtitles but the Chaptering is, again for Optimum, appalling with just 12 over the 133-minute running time.
Leon is out now on 4K Blu-ray Steelbook, as well as the 2009 releases on Blu-ray and DVD.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
10 8 10 4 |
| OVERALL | 8 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 133 minutes
Studio: Optimum
Year: 1994
Released: September 2009
Cat.no: OPTBD1642
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 12 plus extras
Sound: DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 2.39:1 (Anamorphic Technovision)
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Luc Besson
Producer: Patrice Ledoux
Screenplay: Luc Besson
Music: Eric Serra
Cast:
Leon: Jean Reno
Stansfield: Gary Oldman
Mathilda: Natalie Portman
Tony: Danny Aiello
Malky: Peter Appel
1st Stansfield Man (as Willie One Blood): Willi One Blood
2nd Stansfield Man: Don Creech
3rd Stansfield Man: Keith A Glascoe
4th Stansfield Man: Randolph Scott
Mathilda’s Father: Michael Badalucco
Mathilda’s Mother: Ellen Greene
Mathilda’s Sister: Elizabeth Regen
Mathilda’s Brother: Carl J Matusovich
Fatman: Frank Senger
Tonto: Lucius Wyatt ‘Cherokee’
Bodyguard Chief: Eric Challier
Mickey: Luc Bernard
Blond Babe: Ouin-Ouin
Old Lady: Jessie Keosian
Receptionist: George Martin
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.