Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critics What's this?

User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 109 Ratings

  • Starring: Gary Oldman, Jean Reno, Natalie Portman
  • Summary: A go-for-broke thriller about a professional assassin whose work becomes dangerously personal. Calling himself a "cleaner", the mysterious Leon (Reno) is New York's top hitman. When his next-door neighbors are murdered, Leon becomes the unwilling guardian of the family's sole survivor - 12-year-old Mathilda (Portman), but Mathilda doesn't just want protection; she wants revenge. Training her in the deadly tricks of his trade, Leon helps her track the psychotic agent (Oldman) who murdered her family. (Sony) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 12
  2. Negative: 1 out of 12
  1. Ah, monsieur, you can lead a Frenchman to the Big Apple, but you can't make him a New Yorker -- and that's exactly what makes The Professional so fascinating.
  2. Reviewed by: Joshua Klein
    80
    Few action films can claim such complexities without conceding the bang-bang stuff that brings in the big money.
  3. Reviewed by: Lisa Nesselson
    60
    Widescreen lensing favors tight close-ups, and multiple shoot-'em-ups are edited with panache.
  4. Lacks the sexy elan of "La Femme Nikita" and suffers from infinitely worse culture shock. [18 Nov 1994, p.C18]

See all 12 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 31
  3. Negative: 2 out of 31
  1. 10
    This movie is soo amazing! I **** love it.
    It's in the top in my list of favorites movies, and I think that is one of the best movies of all t
    imes.
    I saw it like 64165465643 times haha and it always surprise me
    Expand
  2. There are a few different ways to see Leon (or Leon: The Professional or The Professional, whichever). The first is as an action movie, complete with tense and exciting thrills. You can also see it as a sweet movie in which two lonely people walk into and enhance the life of the other. The best way to view it, however, is as a combination of the two. Leon shows that a movie doesn't need to sacrifice emotion and sincerity in the name of action or cut down on violence for the sake of drama. Leon wants to be two things and succeeds admirably. Expand
  3. Despite being an action movie, really the film is about the difficulties of how to deal with a little kid that falls in love with you. Moreover, the movie encourages to enjoy life and suggests that revenge does not help but only makes a situation worse. Great acting. Expand
  4. SLevin
    0
    A farfetched, hollow tear-jerker A story so full of holes you could use it to catch fish. The film creators effortlessly skip over the wide gaps in the storyline, and concentrate on the action. Of course, because the movie wants to be deep, they sprinkle some shallow symbols everywhere: the milk, the plant, the youthful pre-teen, the aging killer with a heart of gold. Only missing was the tooth fairy. The plot, with its supposed twist and turns, is familiar to anyone who ever watched a decent French action movie from the last forty or fifty years. Even worse, Leon Expand

See all 31 User Reviews

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