Leon (Superbit Edition)
Picture: B Sound: B+ Extras: D Film: A-
In the world of cinema
there are films that make me laugh and films that make me cry. There are those that touch me dearly and
those that I take great guilty pleasures in.
Some have made me think, some have made me wonder, and above all some
have inspired me in ways unimaginable.
One film in particular has always been a favorite of mine over the years
ever since my first encounter with it.
That film being Luc Besson’s 1994 film Leon (a.k.a. Leon the
Professional, or in its American release, The Professional), which I
have revisited many times since my initial viewing.
I must say that I was
unable to see the film in its intended ‘directors cut’ or international version
until the DVD came out, which meant that my first or second viewing of the film
was the American release, which changed the relationship of the main characters
and took away from the overall story. I
shall quickly recap the two versions for those less familiar.
Leon (played brilliantly
by Jean Reno) is a hitman and a professional one at that. He ends up taking care of a little girl
(Natalie Portman before anyone knew who she was) after her family is killed
during a drug raid. Her family wasn’t
exactly a good family, but she has nowhere to go. Down the hall lives Leon, so her only hope is that he will take
her in. Those darn hitmen get all the
chicks! Just kidding. Anyway, he is left with no choice but to
help her out. However, Leon has some
problems of his own. Not only is he a
professional hitman, but also his entire life is like that of a robot. He has a little plant that he takes care of
and he drinks about a gallon of milk every day. He is trained to kill and works for money that he never ends up
with.
Leon, in many ways, is a
child locked inside a man’s body with his only mission being to kill those who
he is hired to kill. To repay Leon for
his hospitality he trains Matilda (Portman) how to be a hitman/hitwoman and she
washes his clothes, cleans, etc. The
relationship turns friendlier, but the International version takes that a tad
further. Matilda has never really had
much of a father figure in her life and so it is only natural being a girl
around the age of 13 or 14 to draw close to a strong male figure, which happens
to be Leon. She proclaims her love for
her and he loves her back in a similar fashion. While the American censors felt
this material was too much, it only makes sense that they share a bond like
this because it is more realistic. The
American release undermines this and makes their relationship seem more like a
father-daughter, rather than a torn lover type scenario.
There are several reasons
why this film works quite well even as a guilty pleasure. For one, how often do we see a hitman and a
young girl connect in this sort of way?
Also, the fact that there are certain themes that lie deep within this
story and it never goes for just being a no brains action film. There are moments where the film is more
passionate and intimate about its characters, which have all been carefully
crafted in this film. Leon
particularly presents a coolness that very few recent action heroes have been
able to muster. Jean Reno gives such an
excellent portrayal working with Besson on some earlier French films. This is his introduction into American film,
which would lead him onto other projects like Brian De Palma’s Mission
Impossible (1996) as well as John Frankenheimer’s overlooked Ronin
(1998).
This is the third release
of this film onto DVD and this time it’s an upgraded Superbit edition of the
International version. The other DVD
version is simply called The Professional, which runs about 20 minutes
shorter. Indeed the International
version is the best way to go and the Superbit Edition makes it all the better,
but not as much as I had hoped.
Given the reputation of
previous Superbit releases I was anxiously awaiting the release of Leon
as a Superbit title. My expectations
however were quite high and when I finally got my copy I must say the results
were not what I had expected. The 2.35
X 1 scope transfer is much below par for being a high bit rate transfer. When compared to other Superbit titles there
are definite problems with this transfer.
While colors and detail seem much smoother than the previous DVD of Leon,
the darker scenes do not hold up well at all.
There is pixelization occurring frequently as well as some smearing of
colors. Softness is the biggest problem
overall, which once again is a surprise since previous Superbit upgrades
managed enhance the picture when compared to its previous edition. Even the latest Superbit Edition of Lawrence
of Arabia surpassed the amazing transfer from its debut DVD with much more
vibrant colors, more controlled blacks, deeper focus, sharper edges, and a
overall look that comes closer to the 70mm film presentation. For Leon though, we are reduced to an
average print that has a lot of the problems that Luc Besson’s film La Femme
Nikita had even as a newer edition from M-G-M (reviewed elsewhere on this
site) that shows how popular Besson’s films can be.
Although the picture tends
to be a disappointment the plus side to this DVD though is the inclusion of a
second audio option of DTS 5.1. There
is also an identical Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack that was on the previous
edition, but is no match for the improvements with this new DTS 5.1 mix. Finally gunshots, bombs, grenades, and other
toys sound as realistic as they should.
The music also reaches further into the surrounds creating a more
enclosed feel to draw the viewer into Leon’s world even more. While the sound is nowhere near what some of
the other Superbits offer, this is still and upgrade worth investing in,
despite the poor picture.
Like all basic Superbit
Editions there are no supplements within.
While this film certainly begs for extras of some sort it is not
necessarily all that important. For
those who are current owners of the International version of this film, you may
want to reconsider upgrading if you are not interested in sound as much as you
are picture. However, for those who
prefer DTS to Dolby, which should be anyone who wants better, fuller, more
accurate, more refined, more articulate and certainly more realistic sound than
you may want to dump that old DVD and add this to your collection.
- Nicholas Sheffo
