# The Professional Appreciation Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2001, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212 "2001-09-17T18:10:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/1 "2001-09-17T18:10:12Z")
This movie doesn’t get enough appreciation. Possible spoilers ahead. I love **The Professional** because it manages to be one kickass action movie while still showing sensitivity and good character development. Characters especially. I love the way Leon can knife a man point-blank without changing his expression, yet drinks a glass of milk and waters his plant every morning. I love the scene with Matilda dancing around in bike shorts doing her Madonna impression. It shows her little-kid innocence and hints at the ruthless, seductive hit (wo)man she could grow up to be. And how about the part where she _ **spoiler obiterated** _\*\*\*\*\*\*\* with the paper bag? That took guts. There’s so much I could talk about - there has to be something wrong in the universe, because this movie is just too damned good! ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/2 "2001-09-17T19:09:37Z")
I also loved this movie. ::Tapswiller reveals himself to be a sick and depraved individual:: Natalie Portman was _unbeleivably_ sexy… ::doesn’t he realize she was _twelve years old?_:: …and sophisticated. There is no way she was as young as she was supposed to be. ::she was _twelve_, you pervert!:: Though come to think of it, she still looked pretty young in _The Phantom Menace_(in which her performance was as flat as the rest of the cast,BTW)…Hmmm… ::does the math:: Oh, man. I am a sick and depraved individual. Still, a great flick, as the OP says, with wonderful action scenes and excellent acting and direction. Though the story was not exactly original. ---
**Author:** ![Tretiak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@Tretiak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tretiak)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/3 "2001-09-17T19:45:04Z")
“Bring me everyone.” “What do mean ‘everyone’?” “EVERYONE!!!” Great flick. ---
**Author:** ![Spudo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Spudo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spudo)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/4 "2001-09-17T21:47:40Z")
The scene where Leon does the John Wayne impression is great. Gary Oldman was such a bastard, god he’s good, hehe. All in all one of the best anti-hero movies around. ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/5 "2001-09-17T21:57:08Z")
I found Natalie Portman sexy too! We’re both totally sick! According to a fan site, she was born in 1981… The Professional was made in (I think) 1994, so she was 12 or 13 for real! Well, she looked AT LEAST fifteen! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/6 "2001-09-18T03:39:20Z")
I thought that Leon was amazing in that movie. I didn’t see Natalie as anything other than a cute-Hollywood-little-girl. Her acting wasn’t spectacular, but then, I don’t expect spectacular acting from a twelve year old. Any deficencies in her part, though, Leon more than made up for. It takes a damn good piece of artwork to make a hired killer look like a fundamentally decent fellow. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/7 "2001-09-18T04:11:21Z")
I bawled uncontrollably the first time I ran across this movie on cable one Sunday afternoon. The ending was just too much for me to take. Somehow Leon’s character sucked me in, there was much more to him than the surface…one of the most underrated movies and performances ever. I guess it really took me by surprise, I was not expecting the touching story. ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/8 "2001-09-18T04:21:38Z")
If you think it’s good on cable… you oughta rent it. I seem to remember a lot of subtle yet important things that were cut from cable. ---
**Author:** ![silent\_rob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@silent\_rob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silent_rob)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/9 "2001-09-18T06:54:23Z")
Okay…I loved the movie _before_ I saw _ **Leon** _. That’s the movie which was cut-up to be made into _The Professional_, which was released in North America. Now, _The Professional_ is still a great flick itself, but if you like it, definitely check out _Leon_, the version that was released everywhere else. They cut out 24 minutes for _The Professional_, and those scenes really develop the characters and story much more. I think Jean Reno really makes the film, though how him and Natalie Portman play off of each other is great. I can totally understand why, after working with him in _Nikita_, Luc Besson wrote the flick with him in mind. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/10 "2001-09-18T16:39:10Z")
Excellent movie. I loved it from start to finish. Gary Oldman was way over the top, yet I thought it fit the film very well. To you people who thought Natalie Portman was sexy in the movie…You are perverts. No joke, you are. Get Help. Now. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/11 "2001-09-18T22:28:10Z")
What interests me about the film is that it made no bones about life being absolutely dirt cheap. It was one scene of gorgeous coreographed mass murder after another, until in the end it was taken for granted that nobody’s lives mattered except for those of two people who cared about eachother. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/12 "2001-09-19T14:03:16Z")
I saw this film as a sneak preview-- and one of the projectors broke down during the first reel. The entire audience sat through it with a 5 to 15 minute break every 20 or 25 minutes-- and we all stayed there to the absolute end. It was still the best movie-going experience I had that year. It’s a _fantastic_ film! ---
**Author:** ![Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/13 "2001-09-19T16:18:55Z")
Nothing much to add except yeah - wow what a movie - Favorite bits: The shot in the opening sequence where the fat mafia don is backing up totally freaked out, trying to dial the phone, and out of the shadows behind him you see a knife - then a hand, and then finally Leon in his sunglasses. Then the reverse as he leaves… I remember the _gasp_ in the theatre as this unassuming little european man in his coat and hat takes off the coat to reveal that leather vest with all the grenades and guns… The absolute heart throughout the movie… Oldham in his “playing piano on the mantle” scene - either a foreshadowing or a nod to “Immortal Beloved” The fact that in addition to being an anti-hero in the “good guy is a killer” he’s also an anti-hero in that he’s not particularly good looking, his accent isn’t “classicaly sexy”, etc. etc. Natalie Portman pulled off her character beautifully - I agree that her acting was at her age level, but she didn’t try to be more than she was. And Yes, she was _damned_ cute, and needed to pull that off in the context of the movie. My thought throughout was “This is what Nabokov was talking about”. A small bit, and I know that 90% of the world hates Sting, but throughout the movie the background music kept tugging at my ear - it sounded like something I knew, but I couldn’t place my finger on it. It was based on the credit track: “Shape of my Heart”. The Set-Up/Hit of the background leading into SomH at the end layed me out. I don’t think I was able to move for 10 minutes. It helps that SomH is in my top 5 as best song ever written. ---
**Author:** ![Daowajan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@Daowajan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daowajan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/14 "2001-09-19T16:50:30Z")
I was 15 when I saw this movie. Pbththhht. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/15 "2001-09-19T21:09:50Z")
Luc Besson has been the president of the Jean Reno Fan Club for a long time now. Remember _The Big Blue_, or _La Femme Nikita_ (which seemed to foreshadow _The Professional_ in it’s portrayal of Reno as “the cleaner”)? What got me was the too-human side of Leon, getting ripped off by his “employers” because he wasn’t that smart. Man, I was rooting for the hit man the whole time! I am going to find a copy of _Leon_ this weekend. I assume it will be in French? I hope so, I prefer Besson in French, even if it means I can’t look away for a second! ---
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2001, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/16 "2001-09-19T21:39:56Z")
Count me in the group of people who feel this film was vastly underrated. It had suprising depth. I’m always impressed with actors who can express much in the smallest facial movment or posture. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-professional-appreciation-thread/82212/17 "2001-09-20T01:58:00Z")
_Leon_ is still in English, and very much a better film for being uncut. Actually showing Mathilda accompanying Leon on routine “work” was paradoxically less creepy than _The Professional_ largely leaving those out, a similar situation with other scenes cut out. The cut-up American version left me feeling very vaguely creeped out by the Lolita undertones throughout; the intact film, not remotely so–the care that Leon takes with her crush on him, the sadness underlying her trying to grow up so fast, all of that comes out much more strongly in the full version. Damn good film.