Leon [1995]

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Nice Video, shame about the extras...
Comment: Just to make this crystal clear at the outset: I love this film! It is my favourite film of all time as it is powerful & soulful and speaks to me deeply & profoundly as a human being.

My big objection to this DVD is that everything that is excellent about the film is missing in the extras (which are non-existent) and (since it is the only copy on the market that isn't region 1) this fact annoys me with as great a passion as the one I have for the film.

'Extras?' You may ask 'aren't they just an add on to the film that can be taken or left?' Well, when you've seen this film as many times as I have, you want to delve deeper into the film and discover some background info that adds to the richness of the content. I know of many films (e.g. Blow & City of God) which are fleshed out and given perspective by their extras, which makes the film better. I just wish it were true of this one!

So, if you're an amazon buyer then support my campaign for a better DVD version of this film (geek that I am ;) ). And, if you are the maker of this DVD (perchance) then please release a better version - I guarantee it will make you more money...

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Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the very best
Comment: If you can, get the Region 1 deluxe edition which I am reviewing here. It's uncut and has approx 20 minutes of extra footage that you don't see in the region 2 release, primarily more training with Mathilda. It's a fantastic film, one of the best action films of all time.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great film but...
Comment: This film is really excellent, brilliant story, acting and directing.

I was just wondering if someone can shed any light on the reason behind not being able to buy it new...?

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Leon cleans up!
Comment: Leon is a great action thriller with amazing actoin and suspense from the start. Very good acting from Jean Reno, alongside Natalie Portman who makes her film debut portraying a troubled 12 year old determind to follow in Leon's footsteps.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Gary Oldman steal the show as a superb bent cop
Comment:

A film about an elderly hitman who takes a 12 year old orphan girl under his wing, sparking an ambiguous relationship in which the pair co-habit and, among other things, play 'dress-up' - in today's climate, Daily Mail readers would probably have raised an uproar. However, despite the deliberately blurred boundaries which exist between the central couple, this film is exceptionally touching, and both lead performances are incredibly moving and sympathetic.

As the eponymous Leon, Jean Reno convinces as both a fumbling man-child with no social skills, and a clinically effective hitman, performing jobs with a lethal detachment. Luc Besson handles the mix between action and burgeoning relationship with great skill, and the final third of the film has an unforgettable emotional punch.

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Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) made his American directorial debut with this stylised thriller about a French hit man (Jean Reno) who takes in an American girl (Natalie Portman) being pursued by a corrupt killer cop (Gary Oldman). Oldman is a little more unhinged than he should be, but there is something genuinely irresistible about the story line and the relationship between Reno and Portman. Rather than cave in to the cookie-cutter look and feel of American action pictures, Besson brings a bit of his glossy style from French hits La Femme Nikita and Subway to the production of The Professional, and the results are refreshing even if the bullets and explosions are awfully familiar.--Tom Keogh