This is one of the first movies where Natalie Portman started the climb towards the movie star fame she has today. The young Portman does an excellent job portraying the girl who looses her family to a corrupt police unit, and ends up living with her neighbour who shelters her. Jean Reno playes one of his best roles as the reticent assassin who takes Mathilda into his home. The growing relationship between the two makes the movie a solid drama, but there's also some good action, as Mathilda seeks revenge over the people who killed her family.

Gary Oldman playes the chief of the corrupt police unit, and he does a good job playing the villain that Mathilda so badly wants dead. Mathilda grows into a strong young girl, driven by revenge, but at the same time, she makes Leon open up and show his human side instead of the cold killer that he really is. The movie ends with a great showdown, and I must say that this is a movie everyone should see!