YMMV / The Professional

• Adorkable: Léon proves to be a charmingly childish man whenever he's not busy with assignations. He drinks milk, waters potted plants and watches old musicals with the look of a fascinated boy. Not to mention his not so amazing John Wayne impression.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Were Stansfield's men just as flat out corrupt and gleefully evil as their boss, or were they simply too lazy to do their jobs honestly and became too scared of Stansfield to oppose him as he became more extreme over time? While Stansfield's team appear inept and don't seem to have qualms about corruption and police brutality, it's notable that Malky unsuccessfully attempts to rein in Stansfield's behavior several times. They're also alarmed when Stansfield crosses their line of fire in the apartment raid, and his drugged up behavior gets uneasy glances in the corridor. Coupled with Stansfield snatching Malky's gun, this suggests that his wholesale slaughter of the family was not what they were expecting or even planning. However it's noticeable that Willie Blood, the dreadlocked guy shows almost no reaction to murdering an innocent child, just a plain "Wow", and he and Neal chill in relaxed fashion in their office later, perhaps hinting they really are all rotten to the core after all.
• Awesome Music: Sting's "Shape of My Heart", the end credits theme.
• Base-Breaking Character: Mathilda is frequently praised as a strong character backed up by a Star Making Turn from Natalie Portman. At the same time, the film's go-to critique is its sexualization of her and her one-sided romantic love for Léon.
• Broken Base: The Director's Cut/Version Integrale. Its been called the superior version as it delves more into the relationship between Leon and Mathilda. However, others prefer the theatrical cut due to it's less Squicky portrayal of Mathilda in addition to her not being involved with any actual hits which makes her failure to take on Stansfield and her hopeful ending make more sense.
• Catharsis Factor: After having to put up with Stansfield’s abhorrent crimes over the course of the film including the murder of Leon, watching him get blown up by Leon’s grenade is more than satisfying.
• Complete Monster: Norman Stansfield is a psychopathic DEA agent who takes advantage of his position to terrorize, extort, and kill who he wants. On a drug bust, Stansfield, after finding out that Mathilda Lando's father has been cutting the stashed cocaine he gave him, decides to get high on drugs and slaughter Mathilda's family, including her 4-year-old brother, only caring about how he'll explain the deaths to his superiors. Foiling Mathilda's plan to kill him, he attempts to kill her while she's crying, taking pleasure in killing people who value their life. When Leon kills one of his men during a drug deal and rescues Mathilda, Stansfield leads a raid on Leon's apartment with the intent to kill the two, later shooting an injured Leon In the Back before he can escape, fatally wounding him in the process.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Stansfield is so over-the-top with his violence, from pausing a massacre to lecture someone about classical music to shooting at an old lady for not going back into her apartment when told, his psychosis is often as amusing as it is horrifying.

• Diagnosed by the Audience: It's strongly implied Léon is on the autism spectrum. He has odd, fractured speech patterns, phenomenal skill in one specific area (killing people), astounding social ineptitude (to the point he's barely able to hold a conversation with anyone) as well as some child-like traits (he doesn't curse, for instance).

• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The movie is very popular in Iran, where Leon's Signature Headgear is exclusively called "Leon hat".
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Stansfield constantly talking about how much he loves Beethoven was quite appropriate in that Gary Oldman starred as Beethoven in Immortal Beloved, which came out later the very same year.
  • Likewise, Oldman played Lee Harvey Oswald in 1991's JFK and Danny Aiello would portray Jack Ruby in the biopic of the same name one year later, both of which were movies about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Even Natalie Portman would go on to portray First Lady Jacqueline "Jackie" Kennedy in a 2016 movie about her life after the death of her husband. Her character in the movie also sings Marilyn Monroe's "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" which was also about JFK.
  • Norman Stansfield was a notoriously corrupt DEA agent in cahoots with the New York criminal underworld. By contrast, his actor would portray Commissioner Jim Gordon in The Dark Knight Trilogy who is an honest cop and an ally to Batman.
• Improved by the Re-Cut: The Director's Cut/Version Integrale for some, though it's not a universal opinion...
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Mathilda Lando acts like a total brat at times, and other than her brother doesn't even care that her her entire family was brutally murdered. However, her abusive lifestyle certainly explains why she acts the way she does, and she is clearly devastated that her beloved little brother was brutally murdered- which is what becomes her motivation in to becoming a trained assassin.
  • Mathilda's older sister may be a bully, but she didn't deserve to be shot to death in a gruesome manner not to mention is that she loved her little brother. On top of that, nobody seems to even remotely mourn her, especially with both her parents dead.
• Love to Hate: Norman Stansfield is a raging, psychotic, drug-addicted, Dirty Cop who will kill at the drop of a hat. However, thanks to Gary Oldman's incredible over-the-top and oftentimes funny performance, it's almost impossible not to love him as a villain.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Everyone? EEEVVERYYYYOOONNEEEE!!!
  • ''I haven't got TIME FOR THIS MICKEY MOUSE BULLSHIT!"
• Mentor Ship: Mathilda develops a crush on her mentor Leon.
• Moe: Mathilda is absolutely adorable, helped by Natalie Portman's performance.
• Moral Event Horizon: Stansfield crosses it fairly early on, when he kills Mathilda's entire family. Her parents and half-sister were abusive jerks, so it could be argued they got what they deserved. But her 4 year old brother did not do anything wrong and was unjustifiably killed.
• Narm:
  • Léon's slow-motion, cross-eyed roar, seemingly apropos of nothing, right before his room gets hit with a grenade.
  • There's also the dramatic musical sting in the beginning for something as mundane as Léon downing a glass of milk.
• Narm Charm: Even though it is admittedly hammy and silly, Oldman's performance of Stansfield represents the insanity and craziness of the character.
• Nightmare Fuel: Norman Stansfield: A drug-addicted psycho with the law on his side.
• Older Than They Think: Those who are not familiar with this film will believe that the "Get me everyone!" line originated in the 2005 video game Need for Speed: Most Wanted.
• Retroactive Recognition: Adam Busch, best known as Warren Mears from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has a bit part in the film.
• Signature Scene: Stansfield calling in for backup against Léon. As he puts it...
  • Signature Line: "EVERYONE!".
• Special Effects Failure: Stansfield discovers the grenades in Leon's vest. Cut to outside, where one of the cars blows up before the explosion happens in the building itself.
• Squick: The underage Mathilda being attracted to the forty-something Léon. Some feel that this aspect of the plot gives the film an unpleasantly pedophiliac edge, particularly in the director's cut. Especially so in light of allegations of sexual assault against Luc Besson. Even worse is that they were originally supposed to become lovers, which thankfully did not come to be due to the interference of Portman's parents, several producers, and Jean Reno himself (who explicitly portrayed Léon as being somewhat childlike, emotionally repressed, and utterly nonplussed at Mathilda's attraction for this exact reason).
• Unintentional Period Piece:
  • The cartoons that Mathilda watches are very dated. Leon's teashades were also a notable fad of the 90s.
  • The very premise of the movie was set in a period of New York City history when the crime rates were still rather high prior to the Giuliani era.
• The Woobie:
  • Léon, who even as a hired killer, behaves rather childishly and innocent, making it rather easy to pity how such a kind and still undeveloped man wound up in this trying criminal life. Not to mention, despite his total lack of social skills, he has to wind up taking care of Mathilda, who causes him quite a bit of trouble and greatly disturbs him with a romantic love for him in contrast to his paternal feelings for her. And right when it seems like he's about to get away and start a new peaceful life, he's shot down.
  • Mathilda's brother, who is brutally murdered at the tender age of 4. It makes sense why Mathilda wants to avenge him so badly.

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