Film Review: Leon The Professional

Director: Luc Besson

Written and directed by Luc Besson, it became a film that made the names of both Besson himself and the name of a young Natalie Portman. It has garnered huge praise for Gary Oldman as the villain DEA agent Norman Stansfield. The film is based around New York City but most of the indoor scenes were shot in France.

Léon (Jean Reno) and Mathilda (Natalie Portman)

Leone "Léon" Montana (Jean Reno) is a hitman (or cleaner as he refers to himself as) living in Little Italy in New York City, taking jobs from local mob boss Tony (Danny Aiello). He does little outside of work except tending to house plants and obsessive calisthenics. 12 year old Mathilda (Natalie Portman) ends up forming a bond with him after problems with her incredibly dysfunction family that lives down the hall. They both suddenly get wrapped up in a battle against corrupt DEA Agent and drug addict Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman).

The performance of Natalie Portman is given a lot of the plaudits from the film, for such a young actress to play that role is very impressive. Quite often child actors are given too much praise simply because they are young but that is certainly not the case here. Jean Reno is decent as the emotionless Léon but Gary Oldman is clearly the most impressive as the unpredictable and bad tempered Stansfield. His lines are almost poetic at times but mask an almost sadistic side to him that becomes apparant after popping more pills.

Corrupt DEA Agent Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman)

As a film it does look slightly dated and at times over the top spectacle, I think it does separate itself from reality on too many occasions but as a thriller it is an innovative film with some different ideas to the norm at heart. Many films shows the Italian mob scene as a sharp and luxurious affair whilst Leon The Professional paints the world of a hitman as a sparse and troubled world with a particular line from Léon being "it changes you, once you kill somebody you are never the same again. You sleep with one eye open." It could easily have glamourized the violence and the world of being a professional hitman but it does exactly the opposite.

3/4 slightly dated but still an engaging yet innovative film

Film Preview: Star Trek Into Darkness

The world of sci-fi gets another Summer blockbuster release, this year it was Prometheus and next year it is Star Trek Into Darkness. The twelfth movie in the Star Trek franchise is directed by sci-fi guru J.J. Abrams who was behind Super 8, Cloverfield and many hit TV shows like Fringe. An ensemble cast has been named with Benedict Cumberbatch joining the production to work alongside Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban and Simon Pegg to name just three.


Movie Poster

The crew of the Enterprise meet an unstoppable force that has just destroyed a planet on its way home from a mission. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) taken on the deadly mission to stop the people responsible and settle an old score.

Star Trek Into Darkness is released in the UK on 17th May 2013 and the trailer is embedded below:

Film Review: End of Watch

Director: David Ayer

David Ayer was the acclaimed screenwriter for Training Day (review here), he steps up as the director and writer for End of Watch. He doesn't stray too far from what was successful in Training Day as we follow a pair of cops from the LAPD as they go about their daily business of policing the streets. Gyllenhaal and Pena spent 5 months following LAPD officers on 12 hour duties to understand the job better as well as the sort of people who worked for the force.

The film is presented in the found footage format as Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) is documenting his work on handheld cameras alongside his partner Mike Zavala (Michael Pena). They both deal with the usual criminals and call outs that LAPD cops are expected to deal with whilst joking and chatting back and forth in the car rides in between. But after crossing a Mexican drugs cartel involved in a trafficking ring they end up in more trouble than they bargained for.

Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala (Michael Pena)

The friendship between the two lead actors is palpable, the bravado and bantering between the pair is engaging and incredibly real. They are both conscientious young men who joke around possibly to take the edge off some of the horrors they see on a daily basis. Despite the practical jokes you can tell that both characters genuinely have a deep bond with one another and really care for one another whilst dealing the dangers of the job.

The weaknesses in the movie lie within the overall plot and the found footage style that the film is shot in, at times it's not genuine found footage as camera angles are impossible based on what you can see and the equipment the actors have. But the shaky camerawork becomes tiresome and was just an unwanted addition. The main plotline between the unsuspecting policemen and the Mexican cartel seemed like an afterthought when writing the movie which meant it was rushed and unrealistic, a real shame for a film that was stark in its realism elsewhere.

2/4 great rapport between main actors but overall plot was lacklustre

This weeks releases

Seven Psychopaths: A dark comedy about a washed up screenwriter (Colin Farrell) who gets caught in the middle of a con to get money out of a gangster by stealing his beloved Shih Tzu. He thinks he may have found his creativity again but has to worry about the wrath from the gangster played by Woody Harrelson. Also starring Christopher Walken, Sam Waits and Sam Rockwell.

The Oranges: Comedy drama where suburban life is turned upside down by an affair between David (Hugh Laurie) and the daughter of their neighbours. It creates arguments and comedy moments abound as different members of the families have their own way of dealing with the news.

Celeste And Jesse Forever: Celeste (Rashida Jones) is a young successful woman and is married to Jesse (Andy Samberg) who is a dreamer who doesn't quite get things done. They decide to get divorced as they grow apart in this comedy drama. They pledge to remain friends following the breakup but can that ever really happen?

Film Preview: Jack Reacher

After the latest Mission Impossible movie, Tom Cruise has found another potential franchise for him to front and make big bucks with at the box office. Let me present Jack Reacher.

Based on the 2005 novel by Lee Child called One Shot, Reacher is an ex-army police officer who is a drifter with no job or home who is called into help solve the mystery of a sniper who killed 5 people in a crowd. He believes it is an ex-military man who he worked with but is believed to be innocent by the mans sister. It's down to Jack Reacher to solve the crime using tactics that aren't legal or approved by the Police.

Unfortunately, the trailer makes the film look incredibly cliché to the point that I think it would possibly work better as a comedy action film that mocks the genre. The phone call where he claims not to be a hero and then phones the guy back to tell him he'd also like to kill him actually made me laugh out loud in the cinema although I'm not sure that was the reaction they were going for. Cruise is guaranteed money at the box office still but not necessarily to the same levels as ten years ago.

Jack Reacher is released in the UK on Friday 21st December 2012 and the trailer is embedded below:

Film Review: Cosmopolis

Director: David Cronenberg

The well known novel by Don DeLillo of the sane name is well regarded in literary circles and actually was at the forefront of anti-Wall Street movements well before the recession even hit in 2003. Now 9 years later David Cronenberg got his hands on the rights to a film version of the book, he missed out on his preferred lead of Colin Farrell due to scheduling conflicts with Total Recall and also lost Marion Cotillard for the same reason but a different film.

The film follows billionaire trader Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) as he slowly makes his way across Manhattan to get his haircut by his favourite barber. Along the way he is held up due to a visit from the US President to the city and also gets caught in a protest against Wall Street. During the traffic jams he meets up with many different characters as they discuss topics big and small.

Robert Pattinson as Eric Packer, billionaire hedge fund manager

Robert Pattinson certainly looks the part of the arrogant billionaire trader but his demeanour lacks the swagger and charisma to pull off this lead role. Any Twilight fans seeing this film purely for him will love the fact he's on-screen constantly but would be bored to death by the dialogue that is lengthy and often uninteresting. Whilst trying to look cool and unruffled, Pattinson ends up not doing much in terms of body movement and seems to just be reading his lines. The other characters are completely incidental and its a film that apart from the 3 scenes could be run in any order as the other characters affecting his trip to the barber have no real relation to each other or the central plot.

It honestly felt like this film could have been done over the radio, visually there is very little to see in this film as the dialogue takes centre stage and the overall plot means little against the parochial type speeches made throughout. Another option would be to have people stand at the lectern to deliver their lines and most of the dialogue is needlessly long and rather predictable. Overall this is a bore of a film and it doesn't surprise me that many people walked out of this movie halfway through.

0.5/4 missed opportunity on a borefest that talks you into submission

Best DVD releases this Christmas

The Dark Knight Rises: Without a doubt the most popular film of 2012, the gripping finale of Christopher Nolan's take on the Batman franchise was hugely popular and ended the story very well. Christian Bale is impressive again as the troubled superhero who goes up against the inaudible Bane (Tom Hardy) with the future of Gotham at stake.

Full Review

Ted: A movie I really hated when it was released but apparently I was in the minority as it was a huge success at the box office and with fans, so much so that a sequel is already being planned. If you like easy crude jokes made by a bear and Wahlberg being his usual whiney self then this is the film for you.

Full Review

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift: To cater for people with children or even just people who were big fans of the first 3 movies, the format is reasonably similar to the previous movies and even contains some of the same ideas but it can still be an enjoyable animated comedy.

The Amazing Spiderman: An improvement on the original franchise which was directed by Sam Raimi and sees Andrew Garfield take over from Tobey Maguire. This film was a little bit long but did a decent job of setting the franchise up which is always hard to do, Emma Stone is a good love interest as well.

Full Review

The Bourne Legacy: We are certainly well catered for with action movies this Christmas as Jeremy Renner rounds off a trio. A reboot of the franchise in essence with Renner taking the lead role as the new Bourne to replace Matt Damon's Jason, he is Aaron Cross who went through a similar program to the original Bourne and now faces the same problems.

Full Review