Playing theatrically in the U.S. as The Professional, Luc Besson's Leon: the Professional is being re-released again in its international version (a.k.a. the Integral Version a.k.a. the Uncut International Version) on DVD from Columbia/Tri-Star. This marks the fourth release of the film for Region 1 so far: the theatrical cut (simply titled The Professional), the International Version, the Superbit International Version, and now this two disc Superbit International Version Deluxe Edition. Collect them all, and trade them with your friends. It's confusing - let it suffice to say that this is the same cut that was previously issued by Columbia/Tri-Star in North America as The International Uncut Version.

Jean Reno (who had previously worked with Besson on La Femme Nikita and Le Dernier Combat) plays Leon, a lonely hired killer who works out of New York City. A master at his trade, Leon is one of the best there is due to his uncanny ability to just blend in and not draw any attention to himself. When the man who lives next door to him gets involved in a drug deal gone wrong, that man's family ends up dead – all except for his twelve year old daughter, Matilida (Natalie Portman of Star Warsand Mars Attacks). She carefully leaves the scene and rings Leon's doorbell. He lets her in with some reluctance, effectively saving her life by doing so.

With no one else to turn to, Matilda worms her way into Leon's life and ends up staying with him, hoping that he'll train her to become a 'cleaner' so that she can get revenge on the drug dealers who killer her family, her baby brother specifically. As the two develop a strange, almost symbiotic relationship together, Matilida tracks down the killers and tries to take them down. This leaves Leon with no choice but to help her or let her walk to her own death. All the while, a drug addicted cop named Agent Stansfield (played brilliantly by Gary Oldman of Bram Stoker's Dracula and Hannibal) with certain unethical ties to the underworld wants to get rid of the only eye-witness to the murder - Matilida.

Very well directed with some excellent and, at times, very moving cinematography, Leon: The Professional is one of the finest action films ever made. Besson's camera takes the viewer into the world of Leon and Matilda, who are able to fill a void in each other's lives that no one else could. Along the way, Matilda teaches the stone-cold Leon how to feel and helps him get in touch with his paternal side, while he's able to supply her with the revenge she so desperately craves for the death of her family.

In addition to Besson's stellar direction, the performances from the three leads are also very impressive. Jean Reno is sympathetic and likeable despite the fact that he is a hired killer, and Natalie Portman is far better here than you'd guess if you've only seen her in the Star Wars films (where she's absolutely awful). But the highlight of the film's cast is hands down Gary Oldman, who steals the show as the psychotic cop who shows nothing but contempt for everyone but himself. He's a total swine, and you can't help but hate him by the end of the film.

Certain scenes were removed from the film for its North American release that were deemed a little too politically incorrect, including some footage of Portman's character asking Leon to have sex wit her (he declines), Matilda and Leon sleeping together in the same bed, a scene of Matilda playing Russian roulette with a loaded pistol, and other less sanitized moments. Unfortunately, when those cuts were made a lot of character development and valuable background information integral to the story was lost as well. With this release, North American audiences are able to see the film in its longer cut with many of those scenes restored.

Nicely shot with some great sets, solid performances and beautiful cinematography, Leon: The Professional effectively mixes the action and drama genres into one beautiful and engrossing package and comes highly recommended. It's touching, violent, tense and humorous and in short, it's everything a great movie should be.

Video:

Leon is presented in a high definition 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that looks very good, but isn't quite perfect. There's a little bit of print damage here and there (just minor stuff in the form of the odd speck here and there) as well as some fine grain over the image. Colors are nicely defined (reds and skin tones specifically look very, very good) and there's a reasonably high level of detail present in the picture at all times. The black levels are pretty strong and there aren't any problems with mpeg compression, though there are some scenes with visible edge enhancement in them (look at Portman's stripy shirt for a glaring example, it is literally shimmering on the screen). The problem with the transfer is the same problem that has been present on all the other DVD versions of this film that I've seen to date (indicating that it could be either a problem with the negative or a stylistic choice on the part of Besson or cinematographer Thierry Arbogast), the image looks just slightly soft. If you look at objects in the background, desk clutter or pictures or street poles or whatever, they're slightly fuzzy compared to objects that are closer in the frame. Overall though, this is a pretty pleasing presentation, though I can't honestly say that it looks any different than the previous Superbit release and I'm reasonably certain that this is the same transfer - if it isn't, it's damn close.