Leon Essay

Leon

Leon shows many reasons why it could be a conventional thriller but there are also scenes that don’t generally fit in with the normality. For example, the way the film starts seems to be trying to mess with the audience as it works to keep the identity of Leon a secret by only showing his eyes as he hides behind his glasses. Main conventions of a thriller include things like death and that is referred to a lot in the first few scenes of this film as Leon kills a lot of men to get what he needs.

Tension is built very well by the film in this scene and although we cannot relate to Leon due to his hidden identity and the reference to him being a killer with no conscience, we do feel straight away that he is a good guy against these other men due to the fact that they work for a drug dealer and they seem to know about the risks of the job that they have.  The drug dealing fat man is obviously very scared of Leon, as shown by the number of men he needs to protect him. Leon kills all the bodyguards in ingenious ways and seems to be very good at what he does. The whole scene seems to show him teasing the men by killing them off a few at a time and not being where he is expected to be. This scene has a very witty, almost comical view to killing people. The non-digetic tense music throughout is very jumpy and slows down at points of interest until eventually the fat man is all that is left and as soon as the knife touches his throat all sound comes to a sudden end.  At this point we would say that although the symbolism of death is very conventional of a thriller, the movie is unconventional due to the audience having no way of relating to Leon who is a main character and the way in which the first scene throws the audience straight into the action even though they know that Leon is clearly going to succeed in his mission as the film would be very short if the main character died in the first scene.

Most thrillers usually include some sort of quest or mission which has to be completed and shows their journey in reaching that conclusion. Leon does seem to start out with a quest to send a message to a potentially dangerous drug dealer. That quest comes to an end quite quickly though as the film seems to be trying to show the audience that Leon doesn’t mess around and that he is capable of taking down an army of men alone.  The film moves on to showing the other main protagonist of the film, Mathilda. She is portrayed as a very innocent young girl who clearly suffers from abuse and a poor family structure as she smokes behind her parents back and the way she is dressed shows that her role models are clearly not very good ones. This showing of innocence shows a huge contrast between the behaviours of the two main characters. Leon, an assassin who kills people for work, compared to Mathilda, a young girl who ran away from school and gets treated poorly in her household.

The way in which Leon goes out to buy milk and speaks to this young girl with care shows that although his job is a very bad one, he does try to function in society and does have a very caring side.

A significant aspect in many great thrillers is the reference to the innocence in what is an essentially corrupt world. This is shown very well through the way Leon cares for the young girl after just being out killing people as a form of work. The plant in his flat is a huge symbol of innocence that is essential in showing it due to the way in which Leon treats it with such care as if it is the only thing he actually does care about apart from the little girl that he doesn’t really seem to know too well.

When the men come round and slaughter Mathilda’s family, there are some very disturbing shots and clips in this scene which fits the conventions of a thriller perfectly by making the audience uncomfortable at seeing so much death for an essentially innocent family. When Mathilda returns, she goes straight to Leon’s door in hope that he’ll open it for her. The stakes of the scene are very apparent as Leon has a very particular personality, one that he knows he would be going against if he lets Mathilda in. He also knows that to not let her in would mean she would die. His humanity eventually prevails, and from then on gradually the humanization of the Leon starts. This image is very powerful and struck me as a very good part of the film as it shows the way in which personalities change within an instance and different sides of both characters are made apparent to the audience. Although he continues to watch what is going on outside to make sure he and the girl are not in danger.

Leon fits the general conventions of a thriller as shown by the death and the way in which the film makes the audience feel uncomfortable. There seems to be a quest that needs to be completed within the film which also fits in with the general conventions and innocence is shown brilliantly throughout the film by both characters although they both start out with different personalities in the opinion of the audience.