"Leon", the 1994 international version of Luc Besson's "The Professional" release stateside, is what the Motion Picture Association of America was afraid to release stateside: a darker, more sinister look at a great hit-man thriller that is a little sicker, too.

You don't want to meet Leon (Jean Reno). Thing is, you probably won't be able to, as he is hard to find when he is at work. He "cleans" up a problem when there is one, and only does so to male adults that are corrupt. "No women, no children," he swears. A child shows up to him one day, a young 12 year old named Mathilda (Natalie Portman) whose family has just been executed by a corrupt DEA agent (Gary Oldman) due to her father being caught up in dealing drugs. Mathilda is taken in by Leon; she is a forever changed person who wants revenge against whoever killed her family, especially her little brother.

The domestic version still remains as an incredibly entertaining, visually strong and well acted film, with so many outstanding sequences and originality, even if exactly the opposite is true of the revenge plot. It goes even furtherly wrong however, in placing a 12 year old girl in the middle of some dastardly twisted scenes involving sexual undertones between her and Leon, and some hints of violent rage.

The international version, however, expands on Mathilda's relationship with Leon. She wants to learn how to be a "cleaner" to get revenge, he lets her on for work related purposes. And we get to see even more hints of sexuality in Mathilda that is discomforting and out of place with the rest of the film. (Still, one can't deny this was the reason she was offered the role of Lolita in Adrien Lyne's remake)

Still, this longer version is superior, thanks to director Luc Besson. This is a beautifully shot film that actaully brings his French style of filmmaking right into the streets of New York, that Woody Allen would never imagine to shoot. Besson's incredible use of slow motion, wide angle lenses in the anamorphic frame, overbearing character antics (how else can you see Gary Oldman scream so well and so over the top that it would be out of place in another movie but right at home here?), the use of Eric Serra's moody, atmospheric score, and Besson's great way of flowing scene to scene.

Jean Reno is an absolute standout as Leon. He is so commanding and strong in any shot in this film, it's a shame he hasn't been more popular over in North America (to date, he's had small roles in "Ronin" and 98's "Godzilla"). Natalie Portman, whilst having odd character antics, is equally amazing as Mathilda. It's rare to see this much strength and heart come out of a 12 year old. Too bad her future films didn't live up to her talent. Danny Aiello has a great few scenes as Leon's boss, Tony. Look closely and you'll spot The Practice's Michael Badalucco as Mathilda's father. And last but not least, Gary Oldman is still one of the cinema's most underrated actors, and this film is proof of that. This man can do anything.

I loved this extended cut of "Leon," even if there are problems with some of the tones and revenge story, it is still a captivating and unique movie. Director Luc Besson has moved on from this, to make a good but lacking movie ("The Fifth Element") to a horrible one ("The Messenger"). Even though he still gets funding for his films through the France company Gaumount, his films are getting more American and thusly, less enjoyable. Let's hope in the future Besson gets back to what he knows best: Jean Reno.

The Fifth Element (1997) is a science fantasy, action, comedy, techno thriller film, written and directed by Luc Besson, starring Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm, and Chris Tucker. The production design for the film was developed by French comics creators Jean Giraud (Moebius) and Jean-Claude Mézières and shows a strong influence of French comic storytelling and aesthetic style. The costume design was created by French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, who produced 954 costumes for use in the film.

The film's central plot involves the survival of humanity, which becomes the duty of a taxicab driver named Korben Dallas (Willis) when an extraterrestrial young woman named Leeloo (Jovovich) falls into his taxicab. She is the Fifth Element, whose appearance was prophesied by the Father Vito Cornelius (Holm). Korben's mission is to gather the other four elements before a black planet that represents pure evil collides with Earth. Mangalors, slow-witted warrior aliens led by corporate tyrant Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg (Oldman), are obsessed with thwarting Korben's efforts.

The plot:

Every five millennia, when three planets are in eclipse, evil is embodied and attempts to turn all light to darkness and all life to death. The weapon against this evil is housed in a temple in Egypt. The weapon is activated by bringing together the five elements of the universe: the first four are water, fire, earth, and air, which are embodied in the form of small, triangular or rectangular stones, and the fifth element is love, embodied in a Perfect Being. The five elements together produce the Divine Light, which vanquishes the Ultimate Evil for another five thousand years. This weapon was placed on Earth by the Mondoshawan, an ancient and mysterious extraterrestrial race, and the knowledge of the evil and the weapon is passed from generation to generation by a line of human priests who serve the Mondoshawan.

In 1914, the Mondoshawan guardians came to Earth to reclaim the element stones, explaining that they were no longer safe there, as a war (World War I) was soon to begin. Three hundred years later, when the Ultimate Evil forms again, a Federated Army battleship unknowingly arrives at its location. The ship's commander is ordered to fire on it, but the Evil only grows larger with each attack, until it engulfs the entire ship.

The Mondoshawan attempt to bring the element stones back to Earth, but a powerful weapons manufacturer named Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg is employed by the Ultimate Evil (who takes on the alias Mr. Shadow) to obtain the stones. Zorg orders the beastly Mangalore warriors to destroy the Mondoshawan spaceship transporting the elements. The entire Mondoshawan crew dies when their ship crashes on a planet, but the Earthlings retrieve a severed hand from the wreckage. This appendage is regenerated in a laboratory on Earth and resurrects the Perfect Being. The Perfect Being is an intelligent, strong, and beautiful woman with orange hair (Jovovich). Speaking in a bizarre tongue, she escapes the laboratory, and, in one of the film's most recognized shots, dives from the side of the building into the flying taxicab driven by Korben Dallas (Willis).
Leeloo escapes into 2263 New York City.

Korben, a former major in the Federated Army's elite special forces unit, brings the woman to a priest named Vito Cornelius (Holm), and learns that her name is Leeloominai Lekatariba-Laminai-Tchai Ekbat De Sebat. Leeloo tells Cornelius that the first four elements were not aboard the ship that crashed on the moon; to keep them safe, the Mondoshawan gave the stones to an opera singer, the Diva Plavalaguna. Leeloo plans to rendezvous with the Diva in a hotel orbiting the planet Fhloston, where the Diva is scheduled to perform.

When Zorg learns that the Mangalores failed to collect the four elements, he refuses to give them anything in exchange for their efforts. Seemingly persuaded by their threats of violence, he offers them a crate of weapons as he leaves his office. The weapon is a hybrid of a assault rifle, mini-missile launcher, flamethrower, net-launcher, dart gun, and what appears to be a liquid nitrogen sprayer. However, a curious Mangalore presses a button that triggers a bomb built into his ZF1, inciting the surviving Mangalores to seek revenge against Zorg.

When the Earth's government learns of the Diva from the Mondoshawan, they reactivate Korben's status and send him to retrieve the stones. In order to transport him to Fhloston inconspicuously, the government rigs a contest in which the winner receives tickets for a cruise to Fhloston, which Korben wins. Korben and Leeloo board the flight and meet their host, a flamboyant radio DJ named Ruby Rhod (Tucker), while Cornelius stows away in the ventilation system, after sending his apprentice to Egypt to prepare for their arrival.

In a sequence of rapid cross-cutting, Diva Plavalaguna begins her operatic performance in the theater aboard the cruise ship, while Leeloo engages in a gun fight and martial arts combat with Mangalores in the Diva's suite. The Diva's performance ends abruptly when she is killed by Mangalores, who then attempt to take control of the ship. As the crowd flees the theater, Zorg arrives. He intends to seize the stones; he steals a wooden chest from the Diva's suite, and plants a bomb on the ship. Once he departs, he is enraged to discover that the stones are not inside the chest.

After retrieving the four stones from their hiding place, Korben finally defeats the Mangalores simply by killing their leader. Immediately following this conflict, the protagonists find Zorg's bomb, and both the crew and the passengers begin to evacuate the ship. Zorg returns while the evacuation is under way; he deactivates his bomb with only seconds to spare, but is killed in an explosion from another bomb, detonated by a surviving Mangalore.

As President Lindberg and his staff celebrate the apparent success of Korben's mission, they are interrupted by a scientist who tells them that the Ultimate Evil (now a fireball 1,200 miles in diameter) has shifted position and is heading directly for Earth. This allows Korben only two hours to prepare the weapon, the operation of which he does not yet understand.

As Korben, Leeloo, Cornelius, and Ruby Rhod return to Earth, the Ultimate Evil continues its trajectory toward Earth. During the flight, Leeloo researches human history on the ship's computer; as she arrives at the "war" category, she learns of humanity's cruelty and hatred.

With only minutes until impact, the protagonists arrive on Earth and begin to prepare the weapon. They place the stones around Leeloo, then expose each stone to its corresponding element: to the air stone, breath; to the earth stone, dust; to the water stone, perspiration; and to the fire stone, a flame from the last match in Korben's matchbook. Leeloo is reluctant to create the Divine Light, and asks "What is the point of saving life if all you do is destroy it?" Korben convinces her that some things are worth saving, such as love. He finally tells her that he loves her, they kiss passionately, and their kiss triggers the stones to fire the weapon. The Divine Light is released from her mouth with a scream, and halts the Ultimate Evil in its path, only 62 miles from Earth. The Ultimate Evil is instantaneously petrified and the Earth is saved.

In the end the President arrives at a hospital where Korben and Leeloo are making love in a resting chamber, and then receives an abusive phone call from Korben's mother.