The Professional (a/k/a Léon) (1994)

The Scene: Stansfield’s rampage / The finale

Why I Love This Scene: I have not seen this awesome flick since my college days and for some reason it popped in my head last week and thought it would be a great entry in Shake the Scene. I recently re-watched this 90s gem and I was still very impressed with the acting, story and cinematography. In fact, I appreciated most of it more than when I was a teenager, especially seeing Natalie Portman be so great when she was so young. I actually watched the “international cut” on my DVD (I never seen this version before) and it was even better. There’s a whole lot more violence than I remember. I’m testing my memory but I don’t recall scenes where Mathilda accompanies Léon on missions helping him get the marks out of their apartments. I really don’t have any memory of those types of scenes. There’s another where Mathilda actually shoots a mark (with a paintball) as a test or exercise and Léon giving her pointers on where to shoot him. That scene was hysterical and pivotal to the storyline and the US version never had that.

Anyway, here I’m highlighting 2 scenes. The first is where looney bat-shit crazy Stansfield (Gary Oldman in one of his best roles) and his men kill Mathilda’s family. The second is the finale of the film where Mathilda and Léon get ambushed by Stansfield’s DEA men. To be honest, when this movie popped in my head I thought it would have ONE dynamite killer awesome scene to highlight but the movie as a whole is fantastic and if you’ve never seen it, do yourself a favor and check it out. It’s a tad dated with the fashions especially but it still holds up today as a great thriller and action flick.