Something never sat right with me about Gary Oldman playing Sirius Black in the new Harry Potter movies. It worked very well for Prisoner of Azkhaban when he was supposed to be this incredibly shady character who may (or may not) be out to kill Harry. When he becomes a slightly fluffier godfather type figure it just doesn't seem right. Gary Oldman is at his best when playing a sick and sadistic character - as Stansfield in Leon he is just that.
If I was choosing a bad guy for a movie I think Gary Oldman would definitely be competing with Andy Garcia for the role. In choosing the other side Jean Reno would probably not lead the band of merry men, but he would most definitely be there; while who can look past Natalie Portman as the leading lady?!
Leon is a stonker of a movie, with a stupendous cast. Oldman's character is completely psychotic against the rather cool exterior of Leon himself - which I guess is the ironic part of the movie considering their respective occupations as policeman and hitman. For me what is a bit disappointing is that there are not more scenes with the two actors together - I guess that is partly to do with the fact that there probably isn't much to say to each other and neither seems the sort to ask first shoot later.
I'm having real trouble trying to classify this movie, it's not a classic, one-of-a-kind movie or a bog-standard thriller with the Hollywood-ending. It is something that is bizarrely a nice heart-warming tale about a man taking in a young dysfunctional girl and teaching her how to kill so that one day she may avenge her brother's killing... like I say, bizarre...
Anyway definitely one to watch and would easily make it into my Top 100 films of all time.
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