Experience the heart-stooping thrills of Luc Besson’s beloved action classic LEON, with this collectable 4K 3-disc SteelBook ( 1 4K UHD, and 2 blu-ray’s), featuring two cuts of this remarkable film (the theatrical cut and the international cut which runs for around 25 minutes longer than the theatrical and makes a great film, an even better film)

STUDIOCANAL and GAUMONT announce the definitive and strictly limited edition release of the highly influential, seminal ‘90s action thriller directed by Luc Besson (The Big Blue, Nikita, The Fifth Element), starring Jean Reno (Mission:Impossible, Ronin, The Crimson Rivers), Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour, Sid and Nancy, Romeo is Bleeding) and Natalie Portman (Black Swan, Closer, V for Vendetta) in her film debut.

The beautifully designed collectable SteelBook also includes the theatrical and director’s cut of the film together for the first time in 4K, and comes with two Blu-ray discs, and a host of brand new extras.

I checked the film out earlier this week and whilst its not my first viewing of the film. It has been a while since I hung out with Matilda, and Leon. It was a great film when I first saw it on VHS back in the 90s, it was a great film when i finally saw the longer ‘International Cut’ and its still a great film now that I have both versions on the same disc. The restoration looks great on both versions and the sound was booming through my speakers (in a great way!) Of course I will always gravitate towards watching the longer version of the film but I did recheck out the theatrical cut too and yep- still a great film! Now if you haven’t seen Leon before, which version should you watch first? Well that’s a choice isn’t it- hmmm I actually would opt for the longer International Cut. Yes some of the scenes might look a bit ‘ermmm’ when watching through 21st century eyes (those who have seen the film, know which scenes I’m talking about) but Leon is such a great film that you just have to check out the longest version of the film possible. I did and I loved revisiting it.

Luc Besson’s hit hitman film, described by Roger Ebert as a “slick urban thriller”, is currently #41 on IMDb’s Top 100 films. It features extraordinary, much-imitated action set pieces (most notably the storming of Leon’s apartment by “EVERYONE!”), stunning cinematography by Thierry Arbogast (The Fifth Element), quotable dialogue, and a moody score by Besson regular Eric Serra.

The Special features on the disc, whilst not super extensive do add up to over an hour of new material. So that is a great thing. For me the reason for this purchase is that I will own both versions of the film and whilst I tend to head to the longer version when watching ‘Leon’ It is nice to be able to head back form time to time and watch the theatrical version. So lets get to the special feature listings, they are as follows.

Both director’s cut and theatrical version of the movie

New Andre Labbouze interview , technical director – 10 minutes

New Thierry Arbogastinterview , cinematographer – 20 minutes

New Sylvie Landra interview , film editor – 30 minutes

New Alain Kruger interview , journalist – 15 minutes