Regie:
Luc BessonDrehbuch:
Luc BessonKamera:
Thierry ArbogastMusik:
Eric SerraBesetzung:
Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman, Danny Aiello, Peter Appel, Willi One Blood, Michael Badalucco, Ellen Greene, Elizabeth Regen, Frank Senger (mehr)Streaming (4)
Inhalte(1)
Léon ist ein unbarmherziger Killer im Dienste der New Yorker Mafia. Eines Tages wird er wider Willen zum Retter der zwölfjährigen Mathilda, deren Familie brutal ermordet wurde. Als das Mädchen herausfindet, wie Léon sein Geld verdient, will sie angelernt werden, um sich zu rächen. Zunächst sträubt sich der Killer, aber Mathilda bleibt hartnäckig, ist bald seine gelehrige Schülerin und seine beste Freundin. Sie könnten unterschiedlicher nicht sein, der einsame Auftragskiller Léon (Jean Reno) und das traurige Mädchen Mathilda (Natalie Portman), und dennoch macht sie ein seltsames Schicksal zu engen Freunden, ja Verbündeten. Als der wortkarge Sizilianer eines Tages mitbekommt, dass in seiner Nachbarwohnung eine wilde Schießerei stattfindet, will er nichts damit zu tun haben. Sich aus allem heraushalten, lautet sein Überlebensmotto.
Doch als die zwölfjährige Mathilda hilfesuchend vor seiner Tür steht und um Einlass bittet, kann er nicht Nein sagen. Mathildas ganze Familie wurde von wutentbrannten Drogendealern umgebracht. Nun sucht die Kleine Trost und eine neue Bleibe. Als das Mädchen herausfindet, womit Léon seine Brötchen verdient, macht sie ihm einen Vorschlag: Der kauzige Nachbar soll sie zum Profikiller ausbilden, so dass sie ihre Familie rächen kann. Im Gegenzug dazu würde sie dem wortkargen Analphabeten Schreibunterricht erteilen. Léon weist dieses absurde Ansinnen weit von sich. Doch als er merkt, wie bitterernst es dem verzweifelten Mädchen mit seinem Rachefeldzug ist, lässt er sich erweichen und nimmt die Kleine in die Lehre. Die beiden finden heraus, wer hinter dem mörderischen Überfall auf Mathildas Familie steckt: der skrupellose Polizist Stansfield (Gary Oldman), der sein Privatkonto durch lohnenswerte Drogendeals aufbessert. Dieser unberechenbare Psychopath würde auch vor einem weiteren Mord nicht zurückschrecken, falls er von Mathildas Existenz erführe.
(ZDF)
Kritiken (10)
Eine coole, unwahrscheinliche Romanze. Und doch entstand das alles ganz beiläufig, während ich auf Das fünfte Element wartete, das einer einer Nebenidee von Nikita entsprang. Und er hat ganz nebenbei Portman geschaffen, was einen netten erzieherischen Effekt auf SW-Fans hatte, damit diese sich etwas über das europäische Kino zu informieren konnten.
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Ich bin kein großer Fan von Actionfilmen, aber Leon bietet etwas ganz anderes und tiefer Gehendes als Schießen, Blut und Töten. Neben der Jagd nach den Bösewichten bekommen wir einen Einblick in die seltsame, aber unglaublich starke Beziehung zwischen einem jungen, intellektuellen Mädchen und einem kaltblütigen Killer. Und für beide ändert sich das Leben von Grund auf, nachdem sie sich kennengelernt haben und zusammenleben. Dieser Film zeichnet sich vor allem durch seine schauspielerischen Leistungen aus. Jean Reno ist einfach ein sympathischer Mann mit viel Charisma, der sowohl einen rücksichtslosen "Putzmann" als auch einen fürsorglichen "Elternteil" spielen kann. Natalie Portman war schon damals sehr talentiert und ihre schauspielerische Leistung kann mit der von Kinderstars wie H. J. Osment oder Abigail Breslin vergleichen. Gary Oldman war schon immer großartig in negativen Rollen, und dies ist keine Ausnahme. Kurzum, ein wunderbares filmisches Juwel aus Frankreich, das neben den Schauspielern und einer starken Geschichte auch einige ziemlich spannende Actionszenen bietet.
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The delicately portrayed yet wonderfully performed relationship between Reno and Portman is flawless. Besson stayed true to himself in his first Hollywood film and Leon retained his French esprit. Gary Oldman's performance as a psychopathic thug and lover of classical music is unforgettable. Eric Serra also outdid himself and created a lovely soundtrack (he forgot about it again in The Fifth Element).
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During the flood of films of both better and worse quality, one rarely has the opportunity to return to what they have already seen, and I personally only do it with films that I remember as remarkable and strong. I saw this film during its premiere in the mid-90s, and even though I wasn't a teenager anymore, it impressed me as a cleverly and impressively directed popcorn movie with an excellent cast and an emotionally perfectly functioning screenplay. The film hasn't changed, but the genre has gone through rapid development, and above all, I have changed, so this kind of action genre doesn't affect me the way it did years ago. Nowadays, I prefer a dynamic and realistic style, like the one director Greengrass promotes, so my favorite films include the Bourne trilogy, Green Zone, and Blood Diamond. Luc Besson's films are overly marked by the effort to cater to a mass audience, so they are naive, unrealistic, almost comic book-like, sometimes sentimental, and overall calculated. What remains is an excellent cast, with Jean Reno creating a star status for himself after a significant minor role in La Femme Nikita and being catapulted among the best French actors at a relatively mature age, and also gaining a few roles in Hollywood. Gary Oldman, on the other hand, created the wonderful character of a perversely debauched corrupt cop, who holds an honorable place in his gallery of villains. Young Natalie Portman also showed in this film why she would become a world-famous film celebrity in a few years. Overall impression: 55%.
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Leon is one of those movies that is, as they say, “almost perfect". Besson beautifully dissects the relationship between “cleaner" Leon and a young girl, Mathilda, who got caught up in his simple live. He is supported by excellent acting performances from Jean Reno, the awfully cute Natalie Portman and a disgustingly nasty villain, Gary Oldman. An entertaining and sad story about revenge, about life, and about death.
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After several screenings, it is no longer so captivating and action-packed, but rather a cute and touching film that never gets boring. Even with American action, Luc Besson maintains his European style and it is abundantly clear. The action is beautifully shot, incredibly clear, and the camera is unusually detailed. The backbone of the film is, of course, the relationship between the hitman Leon and twelve-year-old Mathilda. The surrounding world with all its elements and features only serves as boundaries through which the writer and director (in one person) navigate. Perhaps for that very reason, Leon is very far from a realistic action film, but it’s one that captures the heart.
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It's interesting that of the three biggest directorial toys of the 90s, (Besson, Jeunet, Gilliam), each managed to build their own hebephilic magnum opus (The Professional, The City of Lost Children, Tideland), which is quite creepy at certain points, however much the viewer tries to accept the narrative innocence. I'm not saying I'm offended by this, I'm just mentioning for future adventures that this film will one day undergo some clever revision that fans won't like. But The Professional has plenty of other things to admire apart from the main relationship. The first thing you can see in it is Besson's gratitude that he finally made it to the States, and his fascination with the vastness and vibrancy of 90s New York. The battered old flats, the sweaty hotels, the tangle of corridors, subways, and staircases, the wild streets, the clutter, the mobs of people, and the anamorphic lenses of the cameras that capture it all. Even Serra this time seems to have realized he's actually doing the music for a film, and The Professional's "godfather" motif adds an unexpected layer of darkness to this much-stylized film (not least because it keeps bringing the protagonist back to his difficult Italian past). The shot alone when Matilda and Léon go up to the roof of the building above Central Park, the scene opens up into a vast expanse in which we watch that giant city, and dramatic loops swirl in the background. Incidentally, one of the proofs of Besson's early directorial wizardry is that everyone, even those who have just finished watching the film, is convinced that The Professional is an action movie, among other things. Yet it does not contain so much as a single action scene.
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Luc Besson used to write great scripts and turn them into fantastic movies. This was not just an ordinary action thriller but also an exciting drama about a somewhat autistic professional assassin and his prepubescent almost-apprentice. I enjoyed it again, just like I did almost thirty years ago. It was, hands down, Natalie Portman's best role and one of Jean Reno's best roles. Jean Reno was great in the roles of disturbed assassins, just like Gary Oldman was with his psychopaths. Maybe they suited them too much because they both got typecast in them. True, the story wasn't exactly a brain exercise, but without torture, I admit that I didn't care at all because I really enjoyed the central, strongly mismatched duo. There was definitely a certain nostalgia involved. / Lesson learned: Take extra care of your best friend.
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If I ever wrote a story about a hit man, I'd probably want it to look like this. Action-packed, gritty, yet human and powerfully emotional. Moreover, there are excellent characters here, brought to life beautifully by quirks, like milk or some pills. Luc Besson showed why he is such a great filmmaker with this one. It's a shame it doesn't quite fulfill that today.
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Besson's The Professional is one of those nonchalant films that very cleverly and imaginatively combines the "old school" with new techniques and together manage to create a fabulous work that, in addition to brilliant filmmaking, abounds with "that something extra" – an inner feeling, flair, or simply strong emotional "capital" that I can't explain or define exactly, but I can recognize very clearly when watching it:) I love the fact that even when Besson uses genre elements (clichés?) from other masters (Tarantino, Scorsese, De Palma, Coppola), he manages to combine them just as masterfully, and where the genre cliché begins and ends, he calmly creates a field of his own overlap and stuns with his creativity. An uncommonly well made and sensitive film. One of the best I’ve ever seen.
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