I recently watched a favorite film of mine, The Fifth Element (1997), which was written and directed by Luc Besson and because he is releasing a new film next month, I wanted to see more of his work. Choosing one of his earliest hits, Léon: The Professional, and a more recent film he wrote and produced, District 13: Ultimatum, I was able to see two movies of his for the first time. He was more involved with Léon: The Professional, clearly still needing to make a name for himself, and with District 13U, he supported a sequel following District B13 (2004) which he also wrote and produced. Besson’s new film, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, will be released in theatres in July and from films released in 2016 stars Dane DeHaan (A Cure for Wellness), Cara Delevingne (Suicide Squad), and Clive Owen (The Confirmation).

Léon: The Professional
1994, R, 2h 13m
Distributor – Columbia Pictures
Budget – $16 million

Léon: The Professional is often thought to be Besson’s best film and was the screen debut of Natalie Portman, who was 11 when she got the part. I watched the “the long version” on dvd which contains 25 more minutes of mostly character interaction between the two leads which was edited out for the initial American release and retitled as simply, The Professional. Éric Serra composed the music, much of which sounded like his next film Goldeneye (1995 with Pierce Brosnan), and really helped shape every scene and define each character. Shots I really like included scanning over the New York skyline, wide angles with a character right in the center, and any angle involving stairs. Each scene seemed to find its own unique way of introducing people, like seeing two walk over a hill, a technique that helped build suspense and all of the lead characters had captivating performances (even though Jean always sounds like he is falling asleep). Some of the subject material would be hard to portray convincingly but it felt more European than distasteful, you knew it was slightly French with how much the accordion played into the score. Partly shot in France, partly in New York, Luc wrote the film in 30 days and filmed it in 90 days while waiting for Bruce Willis’ schedule to open up. Action scenes are intense, the dialogue ones are heavy, and the actors gave great performances.

District 13: Ultimatum
2009, 18A, 1h 41m
Distributor – EuropaCorp
Budget – $13.6 million

District 13: Ultimatum was another feature length showcase for the sport of parkour starring Cyril Raffaelli and David Belle, (both starred in the original and David starred in Brick Mansions in 2014, the American remake with Paul Walker). Special effects in the film were noticeably low budget (although worked fine) but the reason you are watching is for the special effect that are the two leads. The dynamic between them makes for some fan banter and they help move the film along with this, their second adventure so they are able to hit the ground running. Speaking of parkour, David did not rehearse most of the stunts in the film, deciding to do them for the first time as the cameras rolled and Cyril also choreographed all of the fight scenes in the movie. Cyril has also worked on stunts for other Besson productions including Transporter 1 and 2 (2002-2005) and also did stunts for Hitman (2007 with Timothy Olyphant) and The Incredible Hulk (2008 with Edward Norton). The film has many eye catching transition shots, flying across the rundown city landscape, and keeping you in the action. Some of the film was shot in Serbia and was directed by Patrick Alessandrin who previously helmed Mean Spirit (2003) and will next release Riley’s Peak starring Jon Voight.

Links

Léon: The Professional
IMDB – 8.6
Box Office Mojo
Wikipedia

District 13: Ultimatum
IMDB – 6.5
Wikipedia

Spoilers
(please do not continue reading if you have not seen the movie and do not want to read a spoiler)

Léon: The Professional
When Léon opens his coat and a body covered in weapons is revealed, I thought of Keanu Reeves in The Matrix (1999) and I found it interesting how harmless he seemed around Natalie. Gary Oldman stole every scene he was in, playing the bad guy, arching his back taking pills, and consistently threatening everyone (even without talking). He has made a career of losing himself in roles, this film was released the year after he appeared in True Romance (1993 with Christian Slater) and his yelling of the line “Bring me everyone!” was unscripted. I did not expect Jean to oink like a pig with the oven mitt but it helped support his more parental approach to the much younger Natalie who needed a role model (ok maybe not a hitman). With Jean’s best friend being a plant (always happy, no questions) and how much he took care of it, I felt warm thoughts for when Natalie planted it at the end. Then I found out that kind of plant would not survive a winter, well neither did Jean. The version I watched is referred to by Besson as the long version, and did slow the film down considerably from the first half, (sometimes cuts are made for a reason), and I recommend watching the shorter cut (that’s what deleted scenes are for). Some scenes seemed to play like an opera with music overwhelming (or simply in place of) the dialogue and the film had a musical theme to it, even referencing Beethoven, being whimsical, and shots of Singing in the Rain (1952 with Gene Kelly). A neat angle to watch for is when Jean gets shot at the end, the camera changes to a point of view angle and falls to the ground, and his character was inspired by his role in Besson’s previous film, La Femme Nikita (1990). Both leads also worked with Robert De Niro soon after, Jean (Ronin, 1998) and Natalie (Heat, 1995).

District 13: Ultimatum
Cyril had memorable scenes including the skirt arrests and holding the painting fight scene, these were scenes that make the film stand out and are more memorable. Both of the films are lower budget compared to the larger blockbuster action films, but that makes them have to be more creative and inventive. Even the ridiculous, “get rid of the tourists” line and they shoot at cops to get them to leave works because most of the film is over the top, (an aspect Besson brings to his films). Seeing military, police, and gangs in an almost war zone, reminds me of Dredd (2012 starring Karl Urban) with the urban chaos (not unlike all the scenes in Léon: The Professional taking place in the apartment buildings). Scary to think if a city could reduce itself to be in a state like in this film, but don’t neglected city landscapes make for busy obstacle courses to use for parkour and shootouts? Both films also had dirty authority figures and only our out numbered heroes can save the day, which helps stack the odds against them and makes their success that much more rewarding. Really enjoyed the air vent scene with the two leads talking the plot out, I want a fun action movie with two leads that seem to work well together, and the girl with the tattoos who undid her hair to use it as a weapon was awesome in that sequence (again, creative and memorable).