4 out of 5

Director: Luc Besson

The first thing to come to mind when watching this: It’s a shame that Luc Besson hasn’t really been doing too much directing as of late. The Professional was a gritty flash of something new when I was first starting to get into directors and really delving into films… It may have lost some of the grit, and Natalie Portman never really lived up to the awesomeness I envisioned when I saw her in this (sorry, lady), but The Professional is still an example of how to make an exciting, gripping action shooter / drama without gigantic effects or Matrix slow-mo. The plot is a little sketchy, and gets sketchier as the film progresses: an 11 year old girl’s (Portman) family is a gunned down by a crooked DEA agent (Oldman). She takes up residence with the silent hitman who lives next door (Reno), convincing him to teach her the hitman ways so she can seek revenge against those dirty drug-dealing coppers… And in exchange she’ll teach him how to be a little more human. Now billions of films have used a similar plot device, so it’s only questionable in that it Besson plays somewhat loose with the rules of reality and emotion. But that’s okay. Because at the core we have a frightfully risky movie about the relationship between a mature child and an emotionally immature adult, played against a background of guns and murder. The Leon cut of the movie has some great moments between the two leads that caused too much discomfort in the original cut. Besson has this great way of taking somewhat predictable and nigh-absurd stories and making them visually amazing and confident without making you feel like you’re sitting through something going for epic status. It’s clean but dirty, polished but natural. If it’s unbelievable, it’s for the sake of story and you pass by it while watching these great character actors do their thing in perfect sets and set-ups. Perfect? No. But hold it up next to modern action and it’s still a wake-up slap in the face.