Hello my lovelies,
Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Sunday included the start of
something new to be coming to my blog soon, and I'm excited to share
it with you guys and girls.
Working through my list of films still to watch and I saw Leon. It
was another suggestion to me and I had been told that it was a good
film and worth a watch. Well, I can now say that it really is! Word
of warning, I think this could be a long post.
Leon, also known as Leon: the Professional (I'm still unsure as to
which is the right name for it), is a 1994 English language French
crime thriller which was written and directed by Luc Besson. It
starts Jean Reno, Gary Oldman and Natalie Portman as three of the
main characters, however when I looked it up beforehand this casting
didn't excite me, needless to say it does now.
From the beginning of the film I wasn't sure if I'd like it or if it
would be my sort of thing, but it didn't take long for the film to
win me over. Something I had noticed at the beginning was a close up
shot of a reflection in Leon's glasses, and there was something about
it that just gives you that impression that Leon isn't the type of
guy you want to mess with and should certainly stay on his good side.
It doesn't take long to get into the action as we see Leon on a job
trying to scare a guy away. Leon, played by Jean Reno, is certainly
an interesting characters with his quirks such as sleeping in his arm
chair each night prepared for anything that could happen but you soon
warm up to him.
To try to summarise the storyline without spoilers Leon is a hit man
and when Mathilda's family are shot dead by a corrupt DEA agent
Norman Stansfield (played by Gary Oldman), he takes Mathilda in and
reluctantly helps her with her revenge.
Mathilda (played by Natalie Portman) is a 12 year old girl that lives
in the same building as Leon that luckily escapes an attack from
agents who her father was holding drugs for. Although Leon seems to
have a hard barrier up when it comes to looking after Mathilda, he
gives in and she's able to break through the wall he's built up
between him and other people, and he starts to take care of her and
cares about helping her.
At times this film actually has its amusing moments and its a nice
way to break up having so much drama just continuing non stop through
the storyline. Some of the funny moments include Leon's love for his
house plant that he cares for almost like a child, using his pig
oven glove to cheer up Mathilda and also when they each dress up as
film characters, although that scene is also a little cringey at
times.
Leon and Mathilda have an odd relationship but it works well in a
strange way. Some may say it seems as if Leon could be a paedophile, but he never does
anything to Mathilda however much she tries to make him. Mathilda
went through a tough situation for anyone to go through, so when Leon
takes her in and takes care of her she feels what she thinks is real
love for him, when in fact she's probably just grateful and feeling
safe and looked after. I did find it slightly uncomfortable watching
Mathilda trying to persuade Leon into doing things with her, she's a
bit of a strange character but its obvious to see that she had a hard
childhood and has felt like she's needed to grow up too soon. They
have a strange bond and towards the end of the film it starts to
really tug on your heartstrings.
I
really liked this film and it even made me cry at the end. I now love
Jean Reno and think that he is a brilliant actor. Although the film
was long it was worth watching through to the end, even if it quite
sad. I think it is definitely worth a watch and I'm glad I took the
suggestion to watch it, so I now recommend it to all of you. It has a
little bit of everything, action, drama, humour, what more do you
need in a film?! Take a look and I hope you see why I now love this
film.
Until
next time, thanks for reading :) x
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