10. Leon: the Professional (1994)
Written as a stop-gap while filming on The Fifth Element was delayed, writer/director Luc Besson delivered his best work to date with the Professional. Inspired by Besson’s character Victor the Cleaner in La Femme Nikita, the Professional tells the story of Leon (Jean Reno) a hitman who saves a neighbor girl from the corrupt Narcotics officers who slaughter her family. Leon and the girl, Mathilda (Natalie Portman) form a strong bond and Leon begins to teach Mathilda the ropes of being a Cleaner. Trouble brews when she tries to take revenge on the men responsible for her family’s murder (well, really just her little brother) and Leon has to risk everything to save her. Leon: the Professional is not just a terrific action movie but an excellent film in and of itself. The performances are wonderful from everyone involved and Portman knocks her first performance out of the park. Gary Oldman as main villain Stansfield is delightfully odd and evil and elevates every scene he is in. The shots are absolutely gorgeous and the action is very, very well choreographed. I am a fan of Besson in general but this is hands down his best film.
The Professional? I effing HATED that movie SO MUCH!!!! UGH. You know when you think a movie is just so bad that it makes you angry that you watched it? That is how I feel about The Professional.
I just don’t DIG movies like that as a general rule.
Given that you never saw the Matrix because it ‘didn’t look even remotely good’ I think it is safe to say this whole list is probably not material you would dig.
No Ninja Assassin fail.
GJ: As I said above: I tried to keep it to movies that didn’t stray too far into other their own sub-genre where I could, for instance I avoided primarily martial arts movies as they deserve their own list.
Ninja Assassin definitely goes on the martial arts list which currently doesn’t exist.
martial arts list stat