Ive studied film extensively in college. I've watched everything and anything film including Leon The Professional,
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Léon: The Professional
dac287 — 13 years ago(April 27, 2012 01:52 AM)
Ive studied film extensively in college. I've watched everything and anything film including Leon The Professional,
but I must agree with the poster, nothing really made this movie for me. It is by no means a bad film, but it is by no means a great one. This film is ranked along side, and higher, than some of the greatest cinematic masterpieces such as The Seventh Seal and Rear Window, but yet this film is not even close to being in the same league.
Great films are expressions. The point of a film is to become a part of the creative process and gain an understanding of the filmmakers plight. In short, the director is trying to communicate something with th images, the pacing, the themes, the music, and every other aspect.
Leon lacks some of these communication tools, or at least their execution in harmony with the other components.
Leon is a great story, great themes included, but there really is nothing more to it. It just never struck me as an artistically significant film. I may have extensive knowledge of filmmaking as an art
Wow.
It's the Internet version of that scene. -
DFC-2 — 13 years ago(April 27, 2012 04:08 AM)
Injectionlethal is the perfect example of ego trumping humility when evaluating films.
Film professors often disagree about films each considers to be great, because there are many facets that go into appreciation. There is no objective relative weighting of each of these many facets that would enable films to be ranked the same by impartial observers.
Nonetheless, some people, like Injectionlethal, have such an inflated opinion of their personal knowledge that they think accurate film rating can be learned, that they have the key, that the universe should follow their logic. -
d-adrian-williams — 10 years ago(June 29, 2015 11:59 PM)
Why is everyone saying its not artistic enough?, is it anything to do with it being a french director? i dont get it die hard is one of my favorite movies, its not artsy, just because its french dont mean it HAS to be artsy, i understand that many people dont like it but some are acting like those who like it thinks its oscar worthy, i like it because it has action, a hitman having to basically adopt a girl (original plotline i hant seen till this) gary oldmans whacked out drug routine!, leons relationship with his boss, and the fact i was kinda sad when he died and that hangin from the dog scene and escape was pretty badass, it wasnt glitzy with a secret wall of guns he looked like a turnip farmer it was he didnt even remotely look like a typical slick well dressed hitman as hollywood always portrayed but when he went to work, thats when the art comes in. i loved this film those who dont i can do nothing each to his own.
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Sabbath51 — 13 years ago(July 15, 2012 03:12 AM)
I gave this a movie a ten as well ( a rating I reserve for my top 10 movies all-time) and I got to disagree with a few things.
What I liked about this film was the good cinematography, underlying themes, stellar acting (from the 3 main characters), and really just Leon's bad-assness. I also did not find the movie predictable and some of the dialogue COULD have been written better
I could see why people wouldn't like Oldman's performance, but I for one thought it was great. It was over-the-top and I think it needed to be over-the-top, and if you were to classify his performance as "over-the-top", you'd have to admit he did still bring authentic intensity into the role.
Some people arguing about ratings, etc. whatever. People are going to like the film, people aren't going to like the film, some people are going to hate on it just solely for the reason that a lot of people like it. But I put this film right behind TGTBTU, Blade Runner, and Pulp Fiction. Tied with Saving Private Ryan, Fear and loathing & Raging Bull in that next tier -
Sabbath51 — 13 years ago(July 15, 2012 12:34 PM)
I mean the final battle is pretty epic, but there's just something so hauntingly beautiful and terrifying when Oldman grabs that shotgun and enters the apartment.
I also like the scene where Leon's training Matilda, the one where he is showing her where to shoot with the paintball gun.
You got any favorites? -
Burning_Sosobra — 13 years ago(July 16, 2012 11:37 PM)
It's all subjective, most found it to be at the very least entertaining, if not quite a masterpiece. Some, a minority, disliked it for whatever reason. It doesn't really matter. This film is no Acadamey Award winning, breathtaking masterpiece. But in my opinion, it's a great fvcking movie. I loved it when I first saw it, and I love it still after seeing it numerous times since its release. Oldman may have been over the top in his performance, but I still found him to be electrifying and so enjoyable to watch, even as you watch him kill women and children with a shotgun. But I've always thought Oldman was a great actor.
"Beethoven's overtures just get my juices flowing, but after the openingI must admit, he does tend to get a tad fvcking boring. That's why I STOPPED!" You gotta love his crazed, drugged out, maniacal madman performance. Gary Oldman does it well.
They burned Sosobra, God of bad luck! -
tom-yanowitz — 13 years ago(November 22, 2012 05:38 PM)
People need to understand that the IMDb top 250 is nowhere near to being a serious "greatest films" list, especially when it comes to 90s and 00s movies, because a whole lot of users aren't curious enough about cinema to dig further in its history, which leads in tons of movies from de last decades being massively overrated.
As a comparison theyshootpictures.com gathers all the "greatest films" lists from critics around the world and tries to present a mean to all of them:
The Shawshank arrives 474th, not freaking first.
No Besson movie is in the Top 1000.
So to sum it all up, the IMDb 250 does okay for old films, because well, they're rated by people who know a bit more about Cinema than Shyamalan and Michael Bay, but this list tends to overrate the "cult" movies of our younger generation (I'm 22) -
DFC-2 — 13 years ago(November 23, 2012 07:04 AM)
Though I fully agree that the IMDb 250 is not (and makes no claim to be) a greatest film list, I completely disagree that www.theyshootpictures.com (TSPDT) is better. Greatness is necessarily a subjective measure. There is and can be no universal set of facets (e.g. acting, script, cinematography, artistic style, symbolism), nor a universally agreed upon weighting of each facet (e.g. acting counting for more than cinematography or script or style). Under the circumstances, all any critic can claim is a respected set of biases, not objectivity about greatness.
The IMDb 250 list is better balanced than TSPDT and represents a decent statistical sample. TSPDT titles often have fewer that a few thousand endorsements each. A substantial percentage of these titles are obscure films that relatively few have seen. Also, TSPDT is heavily weighted towards top ten lists garnered from critics. Such lists favor name recognition (e.g. recommended films from the past). When reviewing the thousands of titles any respectable critic has seen over a lifetime, the titles that come to mind most easily are those others have mentioned in the past. TSPDT, and its most important contributing list the Sight & Sound decade poll, are largely petrified and very poor when it comes to newer films.
Films that achieved renown in the 1950s and 1960s, because of young Cahiers fan boys, are permanent fixtures on TSPDT. Critics like Godard established an intellectual standard that had not existed before them. However, he and others were also egotistical young fan boys. Godard not only ranked his own films as great, but also a number of American directors that he had loved as a young man. Just like the Nolan fan boys now, Godard and others lionized directors of their youth and uncritically endorsed a large percentage of their output as great because they were in love with their style, not because they were all truly better than every other film.
Those not so enamored by style rarely grant any director more than a few truly great films. TSPDT still has a laughable bias with as many as dozens of films from a small group of 50s & 60s directors. You can complain that several directors on the IMDb list have more titles than they should, but this bias is much reduced before 2000.
IMDb 250 offers:- Current popular resonance (a true standard of greatness for any media designed to be projected for the viewing pleasure of many)
- A well-designed opinion poll (e.g. 160,000,000 IMDb members, high minimum number of votes, comparing ratings of every title seen, rather than just thinking up a top ten)
- Humility about the hundreds of different facets (and the comparative weighting of these facets) that contribute to the greatness of any film. IMDb doesnt pretend that their 250 represents the greatest films, nor should any responsible site
TSPDT offers: - Safe choices for those worried about being embarrassed
- The elitism of a canon
- A nostalgic refuge for those who think everything in the world is getting worse
I'm 60, and have been reviewing and showing films to audiences for many decades.