Léon: The Professional 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Léon: The Professional 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

"Is life always this hard, or is it just when you're a kid?"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown November 24, 2025

Just in time for holiday shopping and potentially ideal for those French alt-genre film-fans in your family or friend group comes the Luc Besson 9-Film Collection from Sony, which offers six of the controversial filmmaker's movies on 4K UltraHD with Dolby Atmos tracks and three additional flicks on standard Blu-ray with DTS-HD Master Audio. Besson has a messy, I'll just call it "icky" personal past (a word that feels generous), but for those who can separate art from an artist's alleged and/or admitted misdeeds, this box set makes for a solid albeit flawed gift. The films included in the collection are black-and-white post-apocalyptic drama Le Dernier Combat (The Last Battle, 1983), stylized crime dramedy Subway (1985), theatrical and director's cuts of off-kilter romance The Big Blue (1998), proto-Wick assassin thriller Le Femme Nikita (1990), underwater documentary Atlantis (1991), theatrical and extended versions of the beloved, fan-favorite Leon: The Professional (1994), zany '90s sci-fi epic The Fifth Element (1997), domestic and international cuts of underrated historical biopic The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), and visually striking supernatural noir Angela-A (2005).

Hitman Léon (Jean Reno) is the best in the business, a true professional, taking out his targets with stealth and deadly efficiency. His next door neighbor is a young girl named Mathilda (Natalie Portman) who lives a life of abuse at the hands of her detached and uncaring parents. When her family is murdered by a gang led by a man named Stansfield (Gary Oldman) as part of a drug deal gone bad, Léon reluctantly takes her in and soon finds himself with more than he bargained for. Mathilda wants Léon to teach her how to be a "cleaner," or hitman, so she can exact her revenge on Stansfield for the murder of her innocent four-year-old brother. Léon reluctantly agrees but soon finds that Mathilda sees him as more than a mentor and father figure, complicating both their relationship and her drive for vengeance that Léon himself cannot ignore.

Click here to read the rest of Martin Liebman's review of the film, of which he says, "calm little moments elevate Léon above and well beyond the plethora of both "hitman" action-oriented movies and most any general action picture out there." Adding, "it constructs a powerful and moving tale that delivers real people with real feelings, real motivations, real skills, and most importantly, real souls to accentuate the purpose of the action. It doesn't hurt, either, that Besson proves himself a master craftsman of action in Léon, and the two combined make for one of the strongest films of its kind."

Léon: The Professional 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Click here to read Martin Liebman's 5.0/5.0 review of The Professional's 2160p UHD presentation. Unlike the initial 2017 4K release and the subsequent 2020 SteelBook re-release, this new presentation does feature Dolby Vision. However, I couldn't spot any notable differences between the two when the film was playing on screen, so there's little, if anything, to add.

Léon: The Professional 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Click here to read Martin Liebman's 5.0/5.0 review of The Professional's Dolby Atmos experience.

Léon: The Professional 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Extended Version of the Film - Both the 4K and Blu-ray discs offer two cuts of the film: the 109-minute theatrical cut and the 133-minute extended international version.

• Director of Photography Thierry Arbogast (HD, 19 minutes) - First in a newly produced series of interviews, cinematographer Thierry Arbogast discusses the evolution of Besson's visuals, the photography's contributions to the unique French flair of the film, shooting the actors, lighting the sets, and capturing the action.

• Editor Sylvie Landra (HD, 38 minutes) - Of course, from there it all has to be assembled together. Editor Sylvie Landra talks about the herculean effort of such a task with a film like The Professional, and even details the process of trimming the film down for its broader release.

• Journalist Alain Kruger (HD, 17 minutes) - A critical look at Leon and its legacy.

• Gaumont Technical Director Andre Labbouz (HD, 9 minutes) - One final interview on the 4K disc.

• 10 Year Retrospective (SD, 10 minutes) - The first of four DVD-era extras that have been ported over.

• Jean Reno: The Road to Leon (SD, 12 minutes)

• Natalie Portman: Starting Young (SD, 14 minutes)

• Extended Version Fact Track (HD) - An on-screen fact track can be played with the extended film.

• Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2 minutes)

Léon: The Professional 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

God bless Leon: The Professional. What a film! Yeah, the international extended version is a bit... problematic. But whichever cut you choose, you'll be treated to an action classic that continues to hold up. Add to that a dazzling 4K presentation, a terrific Dolby Atmos experience, and a number of extras (new and old) and you have a release worth its weight in 4K gold.