Leon

gimli2112

so few drinks and it suddenly occured to me I should watch this

let me speak to our mutal friend
he wants to talk to you
yes?
make sure he understands. then let him go
do you understand
*terrified nods*
so say it
sss I understand


besson's greatest movie
France's greatest movie
best French thing ever

Melanchthon

Don't watch the Directors Cut, ups the levels of subtle creepiness to a much higher level while still not really engaging in a meaningful way with it so it becomes a uncomfortable watch.

return guide

gimli2112 wrote: »

so few drinks and it suddenly occured to me I should watch this

let me speak to our mutal friend
he wants to talk to you
yes?
make sure he understands. then let him go
do you understand
*terrified nods*
so say it
sss I understand


besson's greatest movie
France's greatest movie
best French thing ever

Still watch it every now and again - one of my favourites, slightly eclipsed by Midnight Run (mainly for DeNiro's bad language)

gimli2112

the relationship between the child and Leon was potentially uncomfortable imo but ultimately not, as there was no sexual interest on his part.
He's someone with huge issues, unbeliveably lonely. His life is what is is but when she enters it, it flips him.

Watched this a couple of years ago again - didn't think that it held up that well and not just because of the revisionist child sexualisation element.

enricoh

One of my fave films, not a fan of the director's cut though!

gimli2112

it's interesting you say that Glasso, I'm watching it now and thing it holds up tremendously well I think, the music, the way it's shot. It's fantastic.
If I look at some of the movies made at the time they look horribly dated, not this. The 90s has some gems and this is one, imo

I thought that the girl's family were really paper-thin as characters when viewing it again. wasn't even believable that she came from that family.

and Oldman was a little over the top also I thought. too much of a caricature. he could have been more menacing without the extreme end of the cartoon aspects imo.

re the cinematography - would agree yes that does not suffer in terms of dating like a lot of 90's movies have.

Dades

glasso wrote: »

and Oldman was a little over the top also I thought. too much of a caricature. he could have been more menacing without the extreme end of the cartoon aspects imo.

He's one of the great movie cop villains! Wouldn't change a thing he does. Subtlety is overrated.

2smiggy

the first few user reviews on IMDB are, errrr, a touch creepy !!

link

must be the pedo's mainstream film of choice alright.

they are out in force on the imdb review section for Leon.

another review from imdb

ffs.

Time for Leon To Return

zaabgssu9 February 2020
We need a follow-up to the original and intriguing story of an assassin who takes a young girl under his wings and she ends up providing him with emotional support. I love action movies where people are not thrown a parsec into the air, land and are good to go.

In the follow-up Mathilda has given Leon a boy and a girl and only one of them is following Leon's path.

o1s1n

Melanchthon wrote: »

Don't watch the Directors Cut, ups the levels of subtle creepiness to a much higher level while still not really engaging in a meaningful way with it so it becomes a uncomfortable watch.

There's some bits in the directors cut that don't include any extra creepyness and IMO should have remained in the movie.

This for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUewAMH2rK8

o1s1n

2smiggy wrote: »

the first few user reviews on IMDB are, errrr, a touch creepy !!

link

Jaysus :eek:

p to the e

I was surprised to find out a few weeks ago that Luc Besson met his second wife (Maïwenn Le Besco) when she was 12 and he was 29 and they started officially dating when she was 15. They married and had a child together when she was 16. Le Bosco claims that their relationship inspired "Léon". When she was 20 he left her for the 22 year old Milla Jovovich whom he met during filming "The Fifth Element" which his wife was also in.

pixelburp

Well now, there's a movie I won't be able to watch with the same eyes again. Yuck. Oldman's scenery chewing remains eternal though...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74BzSTQCl_c

bigar

gimli2112 wrote: »

Besson's greatest movie

Definitely

France's greatest movie

That would be Le Samourai

Did you smash it

There’s a lot of suspension of belief that a narco squad can go into an apartment without a warrant, slaughter a family including a toddler, shooting a mother in a bath, a teenage girl in the back with only one weapon found at the scene and for a minor drug seizure (that I’m not even sure they declare as evidence) since it’s their own drugs they are dealing) and the cops are allowed to go about their business and not be put in handcuffs.

Good movie, not a great movie.

gimli2112

it's like terminator 2 would have been a great movie but for the suspension of belief
c+