About a month ago I watched Leon the Professional with friends. I suggested it, knowing it’s one of the highest rated movies on IMDB and a known cult classic.

Since then I watched some a***ysis videos and many shorts of the movie.

My question is… am I missing something? What makes this one of the best or even most beloved movies?

The elephant in the room is, the movie is a pedophilic fantasy. To be fair, a lot of excuses and justifications could be made for Leon and Matilda. And it could be looked at as symbolism that Leon is an adult that never grew up, and Matilda is a child who grew up too fast. Also there is ONLY one kinda uncomfortable scene.

There is a connection between the director himself being a pedo and the situations in the movie where Leon doesn’t (or “can’t”) reject Matilda and is “forced into the situation”. There are ways to write it so the symbolism passes but it doesn’t make excuses for the main characters. Even if you want to show Leon attracted to Matilda I think you’re allowed to do that. The characters within a movie don’t have to be moral. But the specific portrayal of these characters is very… specific and appeals to a certain fantasy.

Put this all aside. I think the movie has nice cinematography. I think Leon and Matilda’s performances were really solid. The action scenes, which there are very very few of, were really good.

I don’t see how any of this makes the movie so special. It’s a simple movie, entertaining and competently made. What makes this more than a solid good movie and a fan favorite?

The only special thing I can think about that this movie does, is the Lolita thing. So people just like it for that?

I’ll also add something about Gary Oldman’s character. I like him here he was campy and funny. I liked it when he said “EVERYONE”. But WHY do I keep seeing his scenes here with titles like “this is the best villain introduction ever”??? He’s just acting cartoonish over the top. His performance is not THAT good. He’s like a Disney channel original movie villain. Do people take his character seriously? This is the most baffling thing about the love for this movie lol.

Anyway if there are any Leon fans here I would like to know why you like it so much.

Idk I just think it’s a fun movie nothing crazy

It was cool. The extended version was uncomfortable tho, what was up with making Natalie Portman's character like that man

answered ur own question. not a good movie, jus competently made genre one and ppl are either willfully ignoring or unaware of perverse parallels between director and storyline

Leon The Pedophile

Gary Oldman got to play Von in a biopic.

it would be epic!

so i had no idea the differences between the theatrical and director cuts of this movie so i decided to watch the director version and 9t made me sick to my stomach one of the worst movies ever made

you already explained why in op theres nothing really deeper than that

Respectfully bro you sound like a gigantic p**** holy

No idea. Jean Reno is cool af in that movie, but why they had to add the kid element is baffling to me

im a p**** for accidentally watching a movie made by a pedophile for a pedophile gaze and feeling sick by it?

I said gigantic didn’t i

IMO it’s the main theme of the movie

because the director luc besson is a pedophile

inb4 he a hebephile bro
stfu