Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

The Professional Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 6, 2019

Georges Lautner's "The Professional" (1981) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include an exclusive new audio commentary by critics Nathaniel Thompson, Howard S. Berger, and Steve Mitchell as well as a vintage trailer for the film. In French, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The forgotten assassin

The Professional is as popular as it is because of Ennio Morricone’s legendary score. That very beautiful track that keeps coming up, Chi Mai, legitimized the film as a genre classic. It got so big that for years, long after the film was no longer screened in theaters, there were night clubs all across Europe that regularly played it.

Top assassin Joss Beaumont (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is abandoned by the French government in an African country ruled by a merciless dictator. When two years later he escapes his captors and secretly returns home, his bosses, now serving a different government, become seriously concerned. A coded message from Joss revealing his intention to kill the dictator while he is on an official visit in Paris then make them go berserk.

During an urgent meeting, a decision is made to prevent Joss from creating an international crisis -- even if it means that he must be taken out by his former colleagues. Commissar Rosen (Robert Hossein), who has never been an admirer of Joss and his work, volunteers to get the job done, and together with a team of detectives begins tracking down the fugitive across Paris. When Joss starts humiliating Rosen’s men his best friend in the government, Captain Valeras (Michel Beaune), reluctantly agrees to set a trap that will lure him out of the shadows.

This film apparently did not turn out exactly as director Georges Lautner and Belmondo had envisioned it, and it is quite easy to tell why. One part of it essentially carries the identity of a straightforward spy thriller and takes the drama that ensues after Belmondo reappears in Paris very seriously. But there is another part that counters the drama with very light humor and romance, and in the process seriously hurts the film’s credibility as a legit spy thriller. As result, Belmondo’s assassin frequently looks a lot like the charming cheater that gets in a whole lot of trouble in Lautner’s comedy Happy Easter.

Fortunately, as usual, Belmondo is so likable that the odd contrasts that end up defining the film become quite easy to ignore. So, instead of focusing on the meaningful material, the viewer becomes very comfortable with Belmondo’s antics and they provide the entertainment value that the suspense from the spy story should have. (This is the exact formula that so many James Bond copycats have used over the years. See Ken Clark’s Eurospy films).

Belmondo did his own stunts, including the big race through the city and in front of the Eiffel Tower. However, they are not as outrageous as the ones that he did just a few years later in Happy Easter. In this film, the driving, the flips, and the crashes have to be seen to be believed because they are as wild as the ones that routinely appeared in Jackie Chan’s films. (The final credits even use raw footage from the work that Belmondo did, not doubles, in the same fashion that Chan’s classic action films did).

*The famous track that is referenced at the top of this article, Chi Mai, was composed by Morricone a decade earlier for another film, Maddalena, starring Lisa Gastoni. Belmondo had heard it and liked it so much that he lobbied to have it used in The Professional. The track was later on rearranged and rerecorded.

The Professional Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.67:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Georges Lautner's The Professional arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

I have a couple of older DVD releases of this film, but I am going to reference only the North American release which Lionsgate produced in 2010. (The other two are European releases and in addition to being PAL-encoded are not English-friendly).

The master that was used to source the Blu-ray release was licensed from StudioCanal and is the same master that was used for previous French DVD releases of the film. This means that it is older, but I actually like it quite a lot. It has some typical limitations -- some of the darker footage does not have optimal nuances; shadow definition is inconsistent; highlights can be rebalanced as well. However, there are still a lot of good and even solid organic qualities that ensure a vastly better viewing experience. For example, on the DVD release virtually all of the indoor/darker footage looks very flat and even blocky. Upscaling does not help either because the backgrounds routinely collapse. The much stronger density levels here really are a game-changer as they bring a lot of proper depth, and close-ups in particular can look lovely. The best news is that there are no traces of compromising digital corrections, so if you view your discs on a larger screen, you will discover that the visuals hold up really well. Color balance is convincing, but a proper new 2K/4K master will expand the existing ranges of nuances. Finally, I spotted a few flecks, but there are no distracting debris, cuts, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report. So, I think that this release turned out to be a very nice upgrade and makes it quite easy to enjoy The Professional at home. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Professional Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English subtiles are provided for the main feature.

I did not detect any issues to report in our review. The dialog is clean, clear, and easy to follow. Balance is also good. The dynamic intensity is as strong as I expected it to be as well, which means that it is actually noticeably better than what the old DVD release offers. (This film has a good mix of action sequences, so there is enough material to spot the difference). I only felt that the famous theme from Ennio Morricone could have been a bit better rounded, but this something that only an entirely new remix can deliver.

The Professional Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage trailer for The Professional. In French, with imposed English subtitles. (3 min, 480/60i).

• Commentary - critics Nathaniel Thompson, Howard S. Berger, and Steve Mitchell address in great detail Ennio Morricone's involvement with The Professional and history of his famous soundtrack, Jean-Paul Belmondo's career and his image as a European action star, Georges Lautner's body of work, the enormous influence that producer Rene Chateau had on the French film industry, etc. However, there are also some odd comparisons in the commentary that find similarities between Lautner and Don Siegel's styles. (The former routinely went for the 'perfect locations' and often emphasized glitz with a borderline Hollywood-esque enthusiasm. See Happy Easter. The latter went in the opposite direction and the majority of his films promote grit and documentary realism).

• Additional Trailers - vintage trailers for the following films:
  
  1. The Outsider
  2. Le Doulos
  3. The Sicilian Clan

The Professional Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ennio Morricone's soundtrack makes The Professional the genre classic that it is. I am a huge admirer of Jean-Paul Belmondo but the real star in this film is the music. It is beautiful, one of Maestro Morricone's best creations. Kino Lorber's new Blu-ray release is sourced from an older but very nice organic master that was provided by StudioCanal. Pick up a copy for your collection, folks. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.