When Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 classic begins, we watch a man light a cigarette, alone in his scantily decorated hotel room. The lights are dim, he seems to exist in the shadows. He enjoys his cigarette, gets dressed, puts on his hat and heads out onto the streets of Paris, alone, all in a very rigid and ritualistic fashion.

Loneliness is a huge part of what makes Le Samourai such a mesmerizing film. We've all felt alone before, we've all had melancholy days where we felt completely abandoned and it's these all too human traits that make Alain Delon's performance as Jef Costello so impressive: we really feel for the guy despite the fact that he's a cold-blooded murderer by trade. Before Costello breaths a single word to anyone in the film, we're already pulled into his world. We want to know more about him, he's obviously a mysterious man and despite the fact that at only five minutes or so into the film we don't know very much about him or his world, the film starts off with such subtle control and such deliberate and beautifully noirish cinematography that we can't help but get pulled right in along with him.

Once the man hits the street, we watch him steal a car and drive off to a garage. The man who works there knows him, this much is obvious as he changes the plates for him without asking any questions and sends him on his way with the appropriate paperwork he'll need for the car and a loaded handgun. From here we watch him. He is the best at what he does, an obvious expert in his field as he leaves no small detail of his plan unorganized. He sets out to create an alibi so that he won't be a suspect when it's time for him to make his hit: a wealthy nightclub owner. He fires his gun, the man dies, and soon we find Jef in a police lineup. He never even breaks a sweat. The woman from the nightclub who witnessed the murder, a pianist who worked at the bar named Valerie (Caty Rosier) says she's never seen Costello before. She's lying, but at this point we're not sure why. She could be scared of who he is, who he works for, maybe she hated her boss, or maybe it's something else.

Once he makes it out of the police station, he finds more danger. Those who hired him to make the hit have now decided he knows too much and is no longer of use to them. He finds himself on the receiving end of what he's normally used to doling out and to make matters worse, the cops soon realize that they might have made a mistake by letting him go and of course, they give chase. Costello is now a wanted man, and he's still never broken a sweat.

Luckily for Costello, he has a woman who will take him in and, much like the mechanic earlier in the film, help him out without asking any questions. Her name is Jane Lagrange (Natalie Delon, Alain's wife) and although there is another man in the equation, of which Costello is definitely aware, there's some admiration for him on her part and you might even say she's in love with him. That doesn't seem to matter to Costello, he's more interested in Valerie, and he's going to go and pay her a visit… and let's just leave it at that.

Hands down one of the slickest, smoothest, suavest and out and out coolest movies of all time, Le Samourai is a completely engrossing blend of cops and robbers, mobster drama, and relationship dilemmas. Obviously influenced by the American crime noir films of the forties and fifties, Melville's film also infuses some ideas and themes from the code of the samurai into the film to give Delon's character a sense of honor and dignity. While samurai's weren't hitmen like Costello is in the film, they did abide by strict code of honor, much like Costello does here even if it differs in philosophy and morals. Costello is only looking out for number one, his professionalism and cold, calculating tactics don't allow for emotional involvement. Love only gets in the way of his work, and as such, he is a very lonely man regardless of whether or not that loneliness is self-inflicted or not. Despite his good looks, his charm, he debonair demeanor and despite the fact that women seem to want to be with him, Costello has no one else and there's an air of sadness underneath the cool that really makes this so much more than just another gangster movie.

In terms of technique, the film stands apart from the crowd in that the buildup really sneaks up on you. Everything happens in such a clever and underhanded manner that it borders on the surreal at times. The movie also has some interesting contrasts between characters, wisely allowing us to see the difference between Costello and the man who is leading the police after him, The Superintendent (Francois Perier, who is completely over the top compared to Delon) and the differences between the two ladies in the film, Valerie and Jane.

As the film draws to a close, the cinematography becomes more constrictive and at times even a little claustrophobic. This heightens the tension, strengthens the atmosphere, and pulls us in even further as it all breaks down and falls apart for Costello. The shadows at times seem to be drowning him, the violence of his world starting to surround him, and it all makes sense. It all fits, and it's all just perfect.

The Blu-ray

Video:

This new AVC encoded 1080p high definition 1.85.1 widescreen transfer was culled from "the 35mm original camera negative and a 35mm interpositive" (according to the insert booklet) and it looks fantastic on this 50GB disc with the feature taking up roughly 31GBs of space. The black levels are strong and deep, thought there are spots in the darker scenes where things look a little noisier and there are occasional instances of minor crush. Print damage is never harsher than the odd speck here and there, the image is very, very clean. Film grain, which present as it should be, is never overpowering or even close to distracting. The color reproduction is really strong, with the cool blues and blacks used in the movie looking very nice indeed. The level of fine detail in both the foreground and the background of the image is strong, much improved over the previous DVD edition, and the flesh tones all look lifelike and natural from start to finish. The reds look very well defined and don't bleed overtop of the other colors, and there are no problems with edge enhancement or obvious noise reduction. This isn't quite perfect, but it's damn good.