Leon - The Professional : A great film though careful which dvd release you buy! (Leon (DVD))

Member Name: SnooP_WiggleS

Product:	Leon (DVD)
Date:	02/01/08 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: One of the greatest films ever, great character development, plot, acting, cinematography.

Disadvantages: Not all dvd releases have the directors cut, flawed picture quality. DVD extras are a little light.

Film review:

Leon is quite simply one of the greatest films ever made (up there with The Godfather, Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects etc), a great example of how great cinema can be when everything works out well - great acting, great cinematography, great story. However the theatrical release was somewhat flawed by having 24 minutes cut in most theatrical runs of the film (of which will be discussed in more detailed later), changing parts of the plot and reducing character development.

The story centers around a young girl Matilda who's family is murdered near the start of the film by (somewhat corrupt) cops in a drug bust, and how she befriends and is adopted by a professional hitman named Leon, often referred to as a 'cleaner'. As the film progressives, Leon teaches his trade to Matilda, they even start doing jobs together. Their relationship develops, with Matilda hell bent on getting revenge on those who killed her family. The film ends in a wonderfully bleak but fulfilling manner, a true masterpiece in cinematography and character development.

The acting in the film is really what turns this film from being a good action film into something truly exceptional. All three principle characters (Natalie Portman as Matilda, Jean Reno as Leon and Gary Oldman as Stansfield - the corrupt cop) providing very memorable characters. The simple minded (but not stupid) character of Leon could have been a joke with the wrong actor - he 'cleans' and tends for his plant and drinks glasses of milk, mostly keeps to himself. Mentally he is at a similar level to Matilda. Instead he is a very believable character who struggles, but still manages to stay on top. most of the situations Matilda puts forward. Natalie Portman does an excellent job at portraying a girl forced to grow up a lot quicker than most of us. She is smart, manipulative, vengeful, often cold but still emotionally immature and vulnerable in some ways. Natalie nails all these factors without ever coming a cross as 'cute' or out of her depth as child actors often can taking more 'mature' and complex roles. The interaction between these two is truly remarkable, how Matilda tries to manipulate him, how he starts to care for her like a father would, their disagreements and so on. Like the Fifth Element (also directed by Luc Besson), Gary Oldmen manages to steal every scene with his funny but also disturbingly insane character. While shooting people he's remarking on the brilliance of Beethoven, an excellent 'villain' for the film. Of course the term 'villain' is very grey since all the characters have a dark side to them.

The directors cut (also known as the international version of the film) is the superior cut, though certain scenes are rather controversial (such as those involving Matilda's sexual prowess). Ultra conservatives may be offended (such as those who attended the US test screenings that led to these scenes being cut in theatrical release), but for anyone else they add great depth to her character and to the film as a whole. Their relationship creates a lot of questions that are difficult to answer in terms of right and wrong simply, despite the idea of a 12 year old and a grown man being in love being perverted idea generally. But in this case it is Matilda doing the manipulating, with Leon pushing away any sexual advances from her, more loving her in a father figure sense. In watching the film it proposes questions such as "how do we react to children who grow up quick, much faster than we'd like to" or "are personal type relationships acceptable between children and older people in a non family sense, and if so how personal". This film gives a good study to ponder questions such as these and more, without being preachy and trying to tell the viewer the answers.

While many of the added scenes in the directors cut are not essential to story progression they all add depth to the film. In particular the 'training' scenes added are great where Leon teaches Matilda how to be a 'cleaner'. Overall the entire feel of the film changes from the more action oriented theatrical release to a character driven drama that starts and ends with action in the directors cut.

The film score generally complements the film well though has a somewhat '80's music' theme in a lot of parts (somewhat electronic style music), it suits the film though, though perhaps might be a tiny bit detracting for some. There is little in the way of big epic orchestral scores which is refreshingly different.

DVD review:

The DVD comes in a lot of different editions around the world, some containing the directors cut, others not. The region 2 UK edition is not the directors cut so avoid it altogether, as is the Aussie R4 edition. The region 1 editions all have picture quality issues (see below) so avoid them if possible. I've read that the Asian editions are better in this regard, but can't confirm this. The German 2 disc edition being reviewed comes in an entirely different custom packaging to the other editions. A metal style case that holds the dvds is very stylish and also comes with a booklet which unfortunately is all in German so is not much use. Pictures inside it are nice at least. see below for a picture of it:

http://www.amazon.de/Leon-Profi-Directors-Cut-DVD s/dp/B0007WBTF6

In terms Picture quality the edition reviewed (German R2 directors cut) is acceptable but a little disappointing, and likely the best available out of all the releases. The main problem is edge enhancement which can get distracting. edge enhancement belongs on old vhs tapes, not dvd. Its also lacking in detail with walls and such looking smoothed over, likely due to excessive noise reduction applied. The said noise reduction also introduces occasional 'bobbing' of parts of the picture. A couple of times the bobbing is quite distracting, such as when Matilda is lying on the bed (around 58:37). Also its a bit of nitpicking but the dvd has the film framed with black borders on all 4 sides, which is generally bad practice (best practice is only 2 borders top and bottom with no borders left and right). So those with LCD / Plasma tvs and PC users may have to use overscan adjustment to avoid small black borders on the sides. Otherwise its not too bad, color is reasonable, no aliasing, and thankfully is an entirely progressive transfer unlike the infamous 'superbit' (superbit is meant to have the best video quality possible, but clearly not in the case of Leon) region 1 and a couple of other region 1 releases that has around 30 minutes of interlaced video (see link below).

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=5 6058
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews7/leon.ht m

If some of these terms about picture quality confuse you then have a look at the excellent reference on dvd/video artifacts from Michaeldvd (link below). Its good reading anyone who demands high quality video in their dvds (and conversely wondering why this isn't always the case in some dvds). dvdbeaver also has a good reference suggesting some 'rules' needed to make a good quality dvd.
http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/Articles/VideoArtefa cts/VideoArtefacts.html
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/productionrules.htm

Audio quality is more in line with what this film deserves, with a great 5.1 soundtrack. The german edition had a german 5.1 AC3 track, along with english 5.1 AC3 and DTS tracks. The AC3 and DTS tracks are more or less identical. Dialogue is clear and in sync with no distortions or other problems. Action scenes sound great with wonderful explosions and gunshots, with a appropriate subwoofer use and good use of surrounds. A great example of the excellent sound design is around 7:30 where a guy is franticly moving around and tries to call the cops. The musical scores builds up along with a 'heartbeat' style beat with his rapid breathing, and then cuts out suddenly at the pivotal moment. Fantastic stuff.

Extras wise the 2 disc edition has some good extras totaling a little over 50 minutes. However there are no dedicated 'making of' documentaries, no audio commentary, so its far from comprehensive which will disappoint dvd extras buffs. the extras included are (all in English, with removable German subtitles):

Leon - A Ten Year Retrospective: This ~25 minute extra interviews actors and director, and others involved in the film, who give interesting tidbits about the movie and choices they made in filming it. Virtually no 'making of' footage however. Despite being a 'restrospective', there isn't anything on the publics reaction/reception of the film unfortunately, and really doesn't get into enough detail about the film.

Jean Reno - The Road To Leon: This extra interviews Jean Reno about his role as Leon in the film, how he was cast for it, and approach to certain key scenes in the film. Interesting

Natalie Portman - Starting Young: An interesting 14 minute look at Natalie Portman's role as Matilda in the film, including interviews, script reading footage, and again approach to certain key scenes in the film. This is very similar in style to the Jean Reno extra, and quite interesting.

A few more useless extras are 9 movie trailers with German audio (no English audio), and filmographies, actor profiles. The three main extras are present in all of the other special edition releases of the film.

Overall ratings:

Film: 10/10
Acting / character development: 10/10
Musical score: 9/10
DVD Picture Quality: 7/10
DVD Audio Quality: 9/10
DVD Extras: 7/10

Summary: A great film that deserves a better dvd release, mediocre picture quality in particular