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Léon (The Professional)

Léon (The Professional) (1994)

tomatometer

79

Average Rating: 6.9/10
Reviews Counted: 42
Fresh: 33 | Rotten: 9

Pivoting on the unusual relationship between seasoned hitman and his 12-year-old apprentice -- a breakout turn by young Natalie Portman -- Luc Besson's Léon is a stylish and oddly affecting thriller.

50

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 4

Pivoting on the unusual relationship between seasoned hitman and his 12-year-old apprentice -- a breakout turn by young Natalie Portman -- Luc Besson's Léon is a stylish and oddly affecting thriller.

audience

94

liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 230,794

My Rating

Movie Info

As visually stylish as it is graphically violent, this thriller directed by Luc Besson concerns Mathilda (Natalie Portman), a 12-year-old girl living in New York City who has been exposed to the sordid side of life from an early age: her family lives in a slum and her abusive father works for drug dealers, cutting and storing dope. Mathilda doesn't much care for her parents, but she has a close bond with her four-year-old brother. One day, she returns from running an errand to discover that most

R, 1 hr. 44 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense

Luc Besson

Aug 15, 2000

Columbia Pictures

Léon (The Professional) Trailer & Photos

More Trailers and Videos (1)

Cast

Critic Reviews for Léon (The Professional)

All Critics (42) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (9) | DVD (39)

Mathilda is like no New York City girl-child I've ever seen riding the subway. And I couldn't take my eyes off her.

July 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | Comment
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A naive fairy tale splattered with blood.

September 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety | Comments (8)
Lisa Nesselson
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Ultimately seems at once too deranged and too mechanical.

September 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment (1)
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The Professional is much too sentimental to sound shockingly amoral in the least. Even in a finale of extravagant violence, it manages to be maudlin.

August 30, 2004 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comments (8)
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

One pretty awesome action movie.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Hal Hinson
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The bonding of Mathilda and Leon may be among the strangest in the long, tiresome history of odd-couple movies.

January 1, 2000 Comment
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Leon: The Professional has style to spare.

February 11, 2012 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
James Plath
Movie Metropolis

You'll enjoy the action, but you'll remember the movie because of Reno and Portman.

August 16, 2011 Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | Comment
Scott Nash
Three Movie Buffs

Stylish, mature hitman thriller is quite violent.

January 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Teresa Talerico
Common Sense Media

Besson's incomparable film is almost impossible to beat and there's yet to be a director who could match his magnum opus...

March 26, 2010 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

"Leon The Professional" is a consummate hit man movie from the early '90s era in cinema when every young filmmaker wanted to be the next Tarantino. Luc Besson just had to be himself.

May 16, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | Comment
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Reno's performance of hangdog loyalty lends his character pleasing sympathy while Besson's heavily stylized direction builds tension around sexy violence.

April 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment
Film4 Source: Film4

Stylish, mature hitman thriller is quite violent.

December 19, 2007 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Charles Cassady
Common Sense Media

For the most part, The Professional is a great action picture.

November 15, 2007 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Oozing style, wit and confidence from every sprocket, and offering a dizzyingly, fresh perspective on the Big Apple that only Besson could bring, this is, in a word, wonderful.

September 26, 2007 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comments (10)
Mark Salisbury
Empire Magazine

Luc Besson is a masterly director of stylish, thrilling, and humorous action set pieces, and this film's bravura opening and closing sequences are two of the year's best.

September 26, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

There's conviction in this movie, and intelligence.

September 24, 2007 Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | Comment (1)
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Besson fails to make much of New York's visual potential, and lazily asks that Leon's expertise be taken on trust. The shallowness was to be expected; the slackness is surprising.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comments (9)
Geoff Andrew
Time Out Source: Time Out

Only the French could make an action flick that would be equally at home in the multiplex and the art house theater.

January 13, 2005 Comment
Sarah Chauncey
Reel.com

You want a climactic ending? Baby, you got one, with Leon on board.

January 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
James Plath
Movie Metropolis
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Léon (The Professional)

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Another instant favourite film. How can you not love Jean Reno?? He is just adorable, even when he's being a professional killer! Natalie Portman was astonishingly intelligent and mature (I could hear her 25-year-old voice speaking to me out of that 13-year-old face), but she made me uncomfortable with her

December 8, 2011
Letitia Lew
Letitia Lew

Super Reviewer

The best hitman movie ever, so ice cool so slick and quite emotional. Jean Reno's best subtle performance and Portman's best role also (as a kid) yet disturbingly hot. The action is first class and pinpoint, Oldman is crazy and his sidekicks are just waiting to be whacked hehe. The start sequence and finale are

August 13, 2007
phubbs1
Phil Hubbard

Super Reviewer

Léon (The Professional) Quotes

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    1. Leon: Never in the face, If they can not recognize the client, you don't get paid. Cause you could take anybody and said you did the job. Got it?
    2. Mathilda: Got it. Never in the face.
    – Submitted by Rad D (55 days ago)
    1. Leon: Hey What about the ring trick?
    – Submitted by Rad D (55 days ago)
    1. Leon: This is for Matilda...
    2. Stansfield: Oh...shit!
    – Submitted by Caomh M (2 months ago)
    1. Leon: And stop saying 'okay' all the time. Okay?
    2. Mathilda: Okay.
    3. Leon: Good.
    – Submitted by Christian H (8 months ago)
    1. Stansfield: Bring me everyone.
    2. Stansfield's Man: What do you mean 'everyone'?
    3. Stansfield: Everyone!
    – Submitted by Scott G (10 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Leon: The Professional (DE)
  • Leon (UK)
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