Skip to content
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.
Mathilda (Natalie Portman, making her feature film debut here) is a young girl, suffering at the hands of her abusive foster family, and lives in an adjacent flat with her brother, but clearly knows 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 – Mank), who just also happens to be in the police. He is NOT a man you want to double-cross. So when he gives him 24 hours to come up with an explanation as to why his latest batch of dope is 90% pure instead of the full 100%, you know what’s going to come.
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 Leon, the last part being 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 him how to be a ‘cleaner’, her ultimate aim being on getting 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 (Nikita) 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 the first time the film has appeared on 4K 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.
The film, as it always has been when being presented correctly, is 2.39:1. It’s in 2160p high definition, and 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 2.39:1 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 2 or 3 times where the print looks a little soft, but I think that’s just the way it was shot. Either way, the picture is stunning throughout, and crystal clear for a film made 30 years ago. For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic UB450 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player.
The main menu features a short piece of the incidental music from the film within, mixed with some clips, with English in Dolby Atmos and German in 5.1. Subtitles are in English SDH and German.
But why do we only get 12 chapters for the film?
The extras are a series of interviews, starting with Andre Labbouz – technical director at Gaumont (9:54), then cinematographer Thierry Arbogast (20:06), film editor Sylvie Landra (39:47) and journalist Alain Kruger (17:28).
Each interview is in French with English subtitles, and has film clips mixed in, and has, respectively, none, two, four and two chapters, as that depends on the length of each piece. However, I’m not sure why the first one is on its own on the 4K disc, when there will surely be space for all of them! As such, you have to find the others on one of the Blu-ray discs, as there’s two separate discs depending on which version of the film you choose.
That said, the 4K disc initially asks you if you want the Theatrical Version or the Director’s Cut. While it does have that choice, it should really respond to the former with “Wrong!”, and then just play the DC, anyway. That’s what we’re all here for!
Meanwhile, the Blu-ray from 2009 featured some extras which were probably more relevant, namely a 10 Year Retrospective (okay, we’re now 30 years in), interviews with Natalie Portman and Jean Reno, and a trailer. Why weren’t these included?
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 10 10 4 |
|
OVERALL |
8.5 |
Cert: 
Running time: 133 minutes (Director’s Cut), 110 minutes (Theatrical Cut)
Year: 1994
Chapters: 12
Cat.No: OPTUSB4601
Distributor: Studiocanal
Released: December 2nd 2024
Picture: 2160p High Definition
Language: French, German
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, German DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Widescreen: 2.39:1 (Anamorphic Technovision)
Subtitles: English SDH, German
Disc Format: BD100, and 2*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.