(no subject)

[weaktwos]

I watched Leon, aka The Professional last night. I had not seen it for a handful of years. A number of my friends expressed a "creepiness" factor in light of the fact that Matilda expressed her love for Leon, etc.

There's definitely a concern, but it seems to me that Leon was not going to take advantage of her in that fashion. He resists her attempts at every turn and desires more that she live and be safe than otherwise. There is so much to this film:

-The fact that Leon is a top drawer killer. He knows his stuff, no doubt about it.
-The possible naivete of Leon himself in trusting Tony and Tony's line about being like a bank without all the pesky paperwork. Tony was taking advantage of Leon terribly, and here is Leon, a skilled killer, letting this happen. There's an almost childlike innocence to him, outside of the cold-blooded killer bit. This contributes to his kinship with Matilda, of course. In fact, when Leon talks with Tony, it's like he's a kid looking up to an adult. But, caring for Matilda makes Leon into an adult. Not the best adult, but he makes the transition.
-The tenderness with which Leon cared for the plant, his best friend.
-Gary Oldman. Good God! I never thought a conversation about classical music could be so creepy! This was one of the movies where I thought Oldman was just so hot because of how evil he could be on screen. I don't think this way of crushing on male actors is necessarily very healthy emotionally. ;-)


Anyway, I simply adore the movie.

Comments

[moxiesocks.livejournal.com]

I love that movie, too.. but I have not seen the director's cut yet.

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

You're going to get a little uncomfortable at the near-Lolita-esque moments of it.

[moxiesocks.livejournal.com]

I did hear about it.... is that the only difference?

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

Those are certainly the parts that stand out. They make sense within the context of the film, but I can pretty much understand why they were trimmed. Although it's been a couple of years since I watched the uncut version, I remember there being other bits that did in fact add to the movie, but I can't remember too clearly what they are. Wait, I do remember, the massacre of Matilde's family is fleshed out a bit more. Hence weaktwos comments on Gary Oldman's discussion of classical music.

Gary Oldman

[opalturtle.livejournal.com]

If you haven't seen Immortal Beloved you need to. It'll put a whole new spin on that classical music bit in The Professional.

. . .and besides, there's just something terribly sexy about Gary Oldman that I can't quite figure out what is. . .