Rating: 
Summary: Gary Oldman was really good in this one
Review: Ignore the Amazon.com and Maltin summaries, Gary Oldman gives a great performance here as the corrupt cop out to kill Natalie Portman. Luc Besson directs with style not typically seen in American action movies. The extra 24 minutes make the movie more logical and fix minor continuity problems. Terrific cast and good direction make this one worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: I LOVE THIS MOVIE
Review: This is one of my favorite movies. It has everything that you could want in a movie. There is action, suspense, love (not in a lustful way but a father daughter type love), good and evil, and unpredictability. Gary Oldmen is a great bad guy that you could realy hate and you realy grow attatched to the main characters. I'm not going to say to much about the movie because i don't want to ruin it for you but this is a movie that almost any person would love.
Rating:
Summary: Uncut version is stellar!
Review: I had the fortune of watching this movie when I was living abroad in its entirety and I have to say the extra 20 minutes of footage really contributes to the intense plot.Yes there were some suggestions of pedophilia, but in reality if you look closer at the relationship, it wasn't so much in a sexual sense as it was on an emotional level...and you really need to watch the added scenes a few times to really understand that. The new scenes really add a whole new level of depth to the movie that was sorely lacking in the US version. In fact the added scenes almost help you make better sense of all the characters and really understand just the scope of their relationship with each other. I almost felt I watched a whole new film and I am really glad to see that it finally made it to these shores. Luc Besson has had his share of misses (see the Messenger as a great example), but this, along with La Femme Nikita, are really excellent films that have an enormous amount of tension and substance. Don't miss out on this flick!
Rating:
Summary: shallow, then halo.
Review: this is the last great film of several promising careers. here you will find besson's slick, seamless direction before the clunky disaster that was the fifth element and the lame but pretty excesses of joan d'arc. also you will find jean reno, prior to the monstrous mission impossible. and last, but by no means least, natalie portman before she unadvisedly took the vapid hollywood star route into the phantom menace and gave away her undoubted ability to act in favour of paparazzi shots of her topless on the beach. yes, leon or the professional, is a genuine masterpiece of deeply shallow cinema. and the oxymoron is intentional because, like a jackson pollock painting, it is possible to see what you like in leon's subtext. fatherhood or paedophilia? you decide, primarily on how uncomfortable you feel watching natalie portman shine in front of the camera. the non-too-subtle-at-times relationship between portman and lens is the film's main strength, as without it you just have a fast-paced but ultimately unrewarding action picture. now she is doomed to a career following in the dubious footsteps of winona ryder or some other starlet who threw it all away in an effort to be loved by her public it seems fair that people remember her this way. check out the potential acting ability in that face, if you can stop checking out how gorgeous she will be in a few years time... ah! and there's the rub. you do it to yourself you do, and that's what really hurts. this is where besson has got you, this is why this director's cut was deemed too potent for american audiences. my my, a young fully clothed girl on a bed with a fully clothed man? and not even his daughter! but would you feel the same if she were his daughter. yes, you would because, effectively, she is. leon adopts matildha the moment he decides not to shoot her dead. there is nothing unsavoury in leon's head. the man enjoys gene kelly for crying out loud. look at the simple joy on his face whilst watching singin' in the rain. you have besson and reno's assurance this man will not hurt this girl, and yet... cut from the theatrical release. besson has set this thing in an entirely weird, throwaway context because if he didn't YOU WOULDN'T LISTEN. The lure of the action movie is stronger than the lure of, say, adrian lyne's shoddy lolita, which makes similar points far less effectively. this is not a film about paedophilia. don't be so damned silly. look at the way leon protects that plant! this is a film about an entirely different kind of love, paternal, juxtaposed against a background of killing and maiming and a tolerably high body count. isn't that just the ideal of any father-daughter relationship? the world outside is ugly and sinful but here, here there is love... and i'll even show you how to protect yourself. leave the lens cap on until the last moment. i think so. no women no children? no, because it is only the MEN you have to look out for. if there are paedophiles in this film they are OUT THERE, they are a mass of potential. gary oldman is, incidentally rubbish as ever, but don't let that put you off. somehow the film rises above his idiotboy pantomime act.
Rating:
Summary: Probably the ultimate action film
Review: While most of the action directors settle for some german-speaking muscleanimals and godawful acting, it is sheer pleasure to witness the releasing of such a true masterpiece as this. While most of the actionstars aren't really actors at all, it is a pure joy to watch such a prodigies as Jean Reno, gary Oldman or Natalie Portman bringing true soul to the characters. Luc Besson has managed to create actionstars with humanity and true characteristics, something which is adying form of art these days. And not only do the characters impress me, but also the artistic quality is very professional, making the action-scenes enjoyable. A definite milestone in the history of action movies.
Rating:
Summary: Jean Reno Iz Da Man!
Review: If it weren't for "Blade Runner," this would be my all-time favorite movie! I don't care what anyone says this movie is near flawless! Jean Reno plays a expert hitman, named Leon, working in the mean streets of NYC, who just loves his milk. The apartment building where Leon lives is co-habitated by some other interesting characters. Namely a young girl named Mathilda, played fantastically by Natalie Portman in her screen debut. Little Mathilda, unfortunately lives with her abusive sister, neglective mother, innocent young brother, and drug dealer father. When her father crosses a drug lord, played by Gary Oldman(Is there a better bad guy alive than him! ), the drug lord murders Mathilda's family, including her toddler brother. Leno witnesses the act, and decides to take the girl into his life. She soon learns of his trade as a "cleaner", and demands that Leon teach her how to "clean" so that she may avenge the death of her younger brother. Leon reluctantly agrees, and soon the two are caught up in a situation so deep that will change their lives forever. The film is scored brilliantly by Eric Serra, and Luc Besson moves this compelling tale at break neck speed, whilst all th ewhile not forgetting to mix in humor, drama, and some pretty spectacular action scenes. My personal favorite is when Leon attacks the NYPD SWAT team by hanging upside down from the ceiling. The development of the two characters during thi smagnificent ride is quite touching, as Leon goes from a temporary savior, to a reluctant guardian, to a father type figure. There was even a spot where Leon is trying to get the girl to escape, and she won't go because he can't follow, that almost had me in tears. This is a great film, and it should defintely be worth your time. At the very least, see it for Gary Oldman's show-stealing performance. This guy should own several Oscars in my book! Well there is nothing more to say except that you should see this film because not only does it work on every level, it EXCEEDS those levels.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely Enjoyable
Review: There is a difference between things we like and things which are good. The Professional (aka Leon) isn't very good. It's the story of a guy who gets paid a lot of money to kill people, and there's nothing particularly revealing or insightful about this. In fact, quite the opposite. The title character is very cool. Movie assassins are cool. It's neat to watch Jean Reno shoot people. But it's a comic book, in the very worst sense of the term. It's utterly unrealistic and the only things that are enjoyable about it depend entirely on that unrealism. Luc Besson doesn't know any more about assassins than your dentist does. It's absolutely escapism. That being said, it's a hell of a lot of fun. Extremely enjoyable. Lots of fun to watch with your friends, particularly because there's not a lot of dialog, so you can comment over the action. It's not the type of movie that you need to own, however. It's so broadly drawn, exactly like a cartoon, that as soon as you *think* about it, much less look at the cover of the movie, everything in it instantly comes back to you, and you'll find yourself looking for something that's even minutely rewarding to watch more than once. Gary Oldman, on the same really dedicated drug binge that carried him through most of the 90s, is just one notch too high. It's possible to see that he could have turned in a performance that would scare you, but he opted to play it over the top. This was probably a bad idea, although he'd ratchet it up even further in The 5th Element. When this movie first came out, many reviewers were disturbed by the relationship between Jean Reno and Natalie Portman. Others tried to dismiss this by claiming it was familial rather than romantic. Both sides are wrong. Leon has the mind of a child. Intellectually and emotionally, he's younger than Natalie Portman's character. Their relationship is puppy love, so it's romantic in whatever limited sense puppy love can be, but that's all. There's nothing morally dangerous here, no-one's going to be corrupted by this movie, except insofar as it might lead them to confuse things they like with things that are good.
Rating: 
Summary: Professional at Times, Disturbing at Times
Review: This is a somewhat unlikely story about a "friendship" between a middle-aged hit-man and a young girl whose family is massacred for drug-related problems. The massacre occurs near the beginning of the movie. Mathilda, the girl, walks by as her father, step-mother, sister and 4 year old brother are killed by the bad guys (corrupt DEA agents). To save herself, Mathilda knocks on her neighbor's door. Her neighbor, a hitman and the "good guy" in this movie, opens the door and gets stuck with her. Mathilda convinces the hitman to train her so she can avenge the death of her four-year-old brother. She makes it a point that she didn't really care about the rest of her victimized family. The movie goes on to show Mathilda practicing to be a hit-person (hitting a bulls-eye on the first practice shot) and even pretending to be a delivery girl to successfully get into the DEA. The unbelievability of scenes like these are the principal weakness of this movie, along with some of the silly dialogue. However, the movie also has its strengths including great performances by the lead characters, and the brilliant direction of the action sequences. Unfortunately, I disagree with most reviewers as to the portrayal of the relationship between the hit-man and Mathilda. There are some innuendos that are quite disturbing. For example, while they are at a hotel, the receptionist refers to the hitman as her father. Mathilda corrects him and says, "He is not my father; he is my lover." In another scene, Mathilda comes out dressed as Madonna (make-up and underclothes exposed)to amuse the hitman. While this can all be viewed as "ok", it was too ambivalent for my comfort.
Rating:
Summary: A well rounded masterpiece...
Review: I saw this film just to see Natalie Portman's film debut. Afterwatching it I decided this was the among the best done and acted films I had ever seen. The action is sparse in the original US release but that doesn't stop it from being a great movie. Gary Oldman and Jean Reno give amazing performances, and Natalie Portman showed that some young kids can act. I wish Jake Lloyd could act with her talent. The main people who dislike this movie do it for one reason, because they claim there is a pedophile subtext... It's a man discovering what having a daughter is like and that's something he never knew that he needed. So ignore the propaganda from a politically correct society and see a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Hit!
Review: I don't need to write much about this movie. It is simply a classic. If you don't own it, buy it now. It is well directed and you couldn't ask for a better performance from the cast.
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