Leon Analysis

Leon is an English language, French thriller directed by Luc Besson in 1994, it stars Jean Reno as Leon who is a professional assassin who rescues Matilda (played by Natalie Portman) whose parents were killed in a police raid.

The opening shot shows a built up city, it’s a tracking shot which shows us a larger variety of the setting, with this being the first shot the audience get a feel for where the film will be set. After this we already begin to see that some sort of quest is ahead of Leon, this shown through the dialogue and the use of props; black and white photographs of a particular person taken without them noticing, which an audience will assume to be the target. A mission or adventure is a typical convention of a thriller which we have straight away seen. Furthermore during the conversation between Leon and the other unknown man we are only shown close up shots of the two meaning that we cannot see their full faces, only parts, which hides their identity and creates mystery. Identity is also hidden through costume, Leon wears a particular style of glasses with black lenses, therefore the audience cannot see his main facial feature or relate to his emotions (as they cannot see his emotions).

When an informer phones the targeted man (character name: fat man) to warn him about what it about to happen to him, Leon arrives with a gun pointing at his face this shot is shown from Leon's point of view and when he does shoot him (with no remorse), a large amount of blood goes everywhere, this is intended to grip the viewer yet it also shows that Leon is cold hearted through his lack of emotion. We then straight cut to fat man who after hearing the gun shot at the end of the phone is looking scared and anxious. The audience also feel a sense of urgency from fat man as he is trying to now do three things at once; get dressed, walk and talk. This is also shown when one of his bodyguard/heavies asks him what’s up fat man replies with “Someone is coming up. Someone serious.” Leon is obviously dangerous judging by how fat man speaks of him, moreover it foreshadows to the audience that something big is about to go down. Fat man has numerous bodyguards in the hotel that are there to protect him which portrays that in his drug world he is important, and when there are five of them waiting for he lift to open (assuming Leon is about to walk out of it) they shoot profusely, although they stop to then realise that actually, the first person on the phone to fat man that Leon killed is hanging in the lift. This is a warning sign to the bodyguards about what he is capable of, it’s also ironic. As the audience also expect Leon to be in the lift yet it was a trick.

As more bodyguards are on the hunt for Leon in the hotel the music is increasing the tension to make the viewer believe that it’s drawing up to something big. Leon has a method; he kills each body guard one by one, in different ways, rather than just shooting them all at once. This takes more time and planning which is adding suspension to the plot.

The shot returns to show fat man in a shut ff, what is supposed to be secure room with little lighting. The way the lighting is used in this scene is all the while building tension, dark lighting obscures vision so that fat man will not be able to see properly which makes the audience wonder what will happen next. As fat man struggles to find more rounds for his gun his breathing becomes heavier and straight cuts are become more frequent, this is typical of a thriller to show fast paced action. After he finds another gun he then phones the police for their help, which is ironic considering fat man is a drug dealer. All the while this is happening there is non diegetic sound which resembles the sound of a heartbeat, when Leon silently comes out of the shadows behind him and puts a knife very slowly to his throat, as soon as it touches his neck, the sounds cuts out completely, which like his heart probably did stop. The camera uses the golden mean, Leon is still behind fat man in the dark, with partial light highlighting some of his facial features. Once warning the fat man he leaves and walks back into the shadows without killing him. This adds suspense as the audience do not know if fat man will appear again during the film.