(aka "Leon" or "The Cleaner " or "The Professional ")
directed by
Luc Besson
France /
USA 1994
History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the
second time as farce. So, apparently, do the films of Luc Besson. In 1992 he
made "La Femme
Nikita," which in its cold sadness told the story of a tough
street girl who became a professional killer and then a civilized woman. Now he
has made "The Professional," about a tough child who wants to become a
professional killer, and civilizes the man she chooses as her teacher.
Besson seems fascinated by the "Pygmalion" story, by the notion of a feral
street person who is transformed by education. He crosses that with what seems
to be an obsession with women who kill as a profession. These are interesting
themes, and if "The Professional" doesn't work with anything like the power of
"La Femme Nikita," it is because his heroine is 12 years old, and we cannot
persuade ourselves to ignore that fact. It colors every scene, making some
unlikely and others troubling.
Excerpt from Roger Ebert's review at the Chicago Sun-Times located HERE
Posters
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Theatrical Release: September 14th, 1994 - France
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Columbia Tri-Star Home Video (Deluxe 2-Disc Edition) - Region 1- NTSC
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| Distribution | Columbia Tri-Star Home Video - Region 1- NTSC | |
| Runtime | 2:12:44 | |
| Video |
2.29:1
Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 6.91 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Bitrate: |
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| Audio | English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (DTS 5.1) | |
| Subtitles | English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, None | |
| Features |
Release Information:
Edition Details: • Featurettes on Disc 2:
DVD Release Date: January 11th, 2005 |
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| Comments: |
Initially this
does not look too bad at all, but investigating a little deeper we see
numerous flaws in the DVD. It exhibits 'combing' in forced weave mode
indicating that it was not taken from an HD source... and it is not
'progressive' meaning frames where not transferred individually. It
breaks yet another rule of Production in placing a border around the
frame (see
Production Rules # 7). I also see
strange color sweeps (from the bottom at the conclusion of some
sequences (see sample below). I really dislike both the subtitle (color
and font) and the 'FastTrack' option of having non-related trivia spring
up. Now this works well for the Seinfeld DVDs, but frankly is quite out
of place here. On the positive front - sharpness and color balance
appear acceptable - there are some interesting featurettes are on Disc 2
and the audio on the main is VERY good. The DTS track has excellent
bass. Overall, much more could have been done and I am bordering on
considering this disc 'flawed'. Fans watching through a non-progressive
source will probably not be too upset, but this is far from any
definitive edition.
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Sample showing transfer is not progressive (frames are not transferred individually)
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Fast Track Trivia Sample
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Anomalies
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NOTE: This is the very next frame - notice the yellow clouding creeping in at the bottom.
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Subtitle Sample
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Screen Captures
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