The second shot of this film is one of the most impressive, and it’s part of the opening credits. There’s an unbroken shot driving through the streets of New York that ends up at Tony’s diner where Tony is telling his “cleaner” Leon about the next target. The movie then proceeds to open up viscerally with a violent scene of Leon sneakily disposing of some baddies at a New York loft before capturing the drug dealer target. It’s a pretty solid action scene overall, but don’t expect it to either blow you away or for the film to sustain this kinetic energy. Actually, the movie slows down quite a bit to develop the questionable, um, bond between the two protagonists.
When the day and the deed are done, Leon returns to his run-down apartment and interacts briefly with the cigarette-holding Mathilda (Portman) before going back to his place-- next door to Mathilda’s broken family, including her drug dealing father at the helm. Leon peers through the keyhole in his door to the hallway where the father is being berated by Gary Oldman and his henchman about some missing drugs. It’s certainly questionable that they openly discuss their plans and displeasures in such a manner, but it’s instantly established that the classical music lover leader Oldman is certifiably crazy. Nothing malicious happens here, but we’re now introduced to all the major ballplayers, so Leon settles back to his room where he drinks his milk, waters his favorite plant, and goes to sleep sitting up in a chair with his round shades on. The intention here is to establish that Leon isn’t a terrible person—he even has a golden rule of not killing women or children. And Jean Reno does a good job of portraying this socially introverted man, but I am still dubious about his abnormal obsession with milk.
Oldman and his goonies return the next day because the father still hasn’t returned the rest of the drugs, and this is really the pivotal scene of the movie. Mathilda is conveniently away getting groceries, but the rest of her family isn’t so lucky. The father takes down one of the unimportant bad guys, but that’s the only damage he does as Oldman and his gang mercilessly wreck the apartment and kill the wife, older daughter, and younger brother. The best moment of the film comes next when Mathilda returns. She quickly sees two henchman guarding the door and understands that she can’t return; she slowly makes her way to Leon’s door. And it’s here that Portman has an incredible moment of acting where tears are welling up in her eyes, but she tries keeping a calm face so as to not raise suspicion, and she quietly pleads for Leon to let her in. He abides, and the second act of the film is allowed to start.
We learn that Oldman is a detective in the police force, and although that explains how he’s been able to live with such reckless abandon so far, I can’t help but wonder how his promotions came to be. It’s a small critique, but the film comes apart a bit when you continue picking at the edges like with Oldman’s character. But I digress. The next section of the film is all Leon and Mathilda. She learns quickly about Leon’s job, and she asks to be trained to be a cleaner just like him so that she can exact her revenge on Oldman for killing her younger brother—the only family member she actually cared about. He relents, and they start training; Mathilda does stuff like the laundry and grocery shopping to pay her way.
We learn more about Leon’s kind of sad existence where Tony supposedly has all of his money that he’s earned kept away safely, Leon used to have a woman but that fell through, and he can’t read or write which might be part of why he sticks to a strictly dairy diet. This is the part of the film where Luc Besson tries building the rapport between Leon and Mathilda. There’s a scene where Mathilda suggests they play a game, and she dresses up like celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, but Leon is clueless about it all. He is able to guess, however, Gene Kelly because he went to the cinema to watch Singin’ in the Rain. He in return puts in all of his effort for a very poor John Wayne impression. It’s a somewhat fun scene, but again, it feels like it should connect more than it does. The score of the film only adds to the light-hearted tone of the scene, but it’s not very ground-breaking.
There’s also a part where they get kicked out of the hotel they’ve holed up in because Mathilda exclaims to the manager that Leon isn’t her father, he’s actually her lover. Now Jean Reno does his best to play the role where there’s no indication that he feels anything romantic for Mathilda, but it raises eyebrows more than I think Luc Besson would like. What is very sketchy are the connections I later learned about this film and Besson’s personal life. He met actress Maiwenn when she was 12 and he was 29, and they became romantic when she was 15—the legal age of consent in France (I think). She even had a child with him at the age of 16 (he cast her in The Fifth Element but left her for the star Milla Jovovich). Now it’s possible to try taking the film as it is, but it’s hard to separate the two—especially because the film is already uncomfortable by itself.
Moving on from this controversial topic, it’s time for me to say something controversial. I don’t much care for Gary Oldman’s performance. There, I said it. Yes, he’s purposefully playing an over-the-top, pill-guzzling, corrupt cop; but it’s all just too much for me. Even his iconic “EVERYONE!” line does little more than make me chuckle. I think part of this is the cliched nature of how unhinged his character, part is Oldman’s performance, and another big part is Besson’s writing and directing. It edges more toward satirical and comical rather than the blend of suspenseful crazy that keeps people guessing. I’d much rather take German terrorist Oldman from Air Force One or post-apocalyptic cult leader Oldman from The Book of Eli than this villain. Oh, and very quickly, I know Jean Reno from Mission: Impossible and Godzilla, and he’s always been the subdued, tough, cool guy kind of role. He’s much more repressed in this, and it’s a good performance overall.
The film comes to an explosive end with a couple clever moments, but I still don’t think it really hits the mark. Maybe the ending was fresher when it first came out, but it neither surprised me greatly nor made an overwhelming emotional impact because the second act fell flat. Jean Reno is good, but Natalie Portman really does shine here. There’s most certainly problematic morals here, and I wasn’t impressed by either Besson’s direction or writing. Overall, I fail to see this as a definitive classic. And it’s certainly not the 31st best movie either. My suggestion is to pass on this.
In Brief:
- This is inevitably a slow period of the year. I still haven’t gotten around to Birds of Prey, and who knows if I’ll go to stuff like Sonic the Hedgehog.
- Despite the above bullet point, there’s actually a couple films I have in mind on what to review. I do think I know what I want to do next, and it also fits in with Black History Month.
- One film I probably won’t do a full review on is Amazon’s The
TortureReport. It’s an interesting story based on real-life events. Adam Driver is a good lead, and it’s packed with famous co-stars, but it’s very plot-heavy only interrupted by scenes of tort—excuse me—advanced interrogation techniques. Annnnnd it’s not exactly the best way to break up all the exposition even if it’s integral to the story. - I watched the very satirical Sorry To Bother You. There are elements I enjoyed here, and I like the lead LaKeith Stanfield, but man is it also weird. I guess maybe it’s too satirical? Can’t say I highly recommend it.
- The only thing that looks truly promising in March is A Quiet Place Part 2. John Krasinski gets to focus more on directing, and I can’t imagine a better move than bringing Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou on board. And I do realize both Pixar’s Onward and Disney’s bazillionth live-action update in Mulan are also coming in March. I expect both to be good and make splashes at the box office, but they don’t get me excited.
- Here is the clip to Gary Oldman's iconic line I referred to in the review.
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