Mathilda

This is an interesting and well imagined edit. If you love Leon, don’t go into this expecting a basic reworking of that film. As the title of the fanedit says; its ‘Mathilda’ and the whole film is framed from that perspective. With that in mind, what Futon and ArtisDead have done is successfully taken some of the most memorable scenes from the film you love (with the exception of some of the Leon centric scenes) and seamlessly edited them together so that the film still feels familiar but is also a fresh take on the original film. The pace of the film has changed (especially the start of the film) but that’s no bad thing and I think needed to change to reflect the new framing of the film. The start of the film now feels gentler and helps draw out Mathilda’s character more than the original version of the film did.

There has clearly been a lot of thought an effort put into the soundtrack for this edit, I particularly like the music used for the new introduction of Mathilda at the start of the film and some of the fast-paced action scenes also benefit from a new sound track, notably a scene that overlays the Eurythmics. The music choices are excellent and as noted, work well on a lot of scenes, however there’s probably half a dozen too many music additions for my liking. Some of the scenes from the original movie worked for me because of the lack of music. I enjoy being able to absorb the moment and use my imagination.

Most of Mathilda’s childish infatuation / crush on Leon has been removed and I do wonder what the edit would have been like if some more of this had been left intact. It falls into the category of Mathilda’s story, however I know that Futon’s creative direction was to exclude this.

There are 2 parts of this edit that I want to specifically highlight:
1; There’s a scene where Mathilda is talking to the hotel manager and in the original film, during that exchange Mathilda tells the manager that Leon is her lover. In Futon and Art's edit, that part of the exchange has been (seamlessly) replaced with the sound of thunder and as a viewer you are left to wonder what Mathilda has told the hotel manager. This change is genius, it works REALLY well and is an improvement over the original film.
2; The revised ending where Mathilda goes back to school. Futon and Art's reimagining of this scene is far superior to the original film. No spoilers but it’s worth the wait and is a very touching end to the film.

I scored:
Audio/Video Quality: 10, everything is HD and there’s not source issues.
Visual Editing: 10, this was spot on.
Audio Editing : 8, whilst technically competent, I felt there were too many additions.
Narrative: 9, I feel that some more of Mathilda story could have been added.
Enjoyment: 8, I wasn’t able to full get into the film as much as I hoped because some scenes were dominated with music.

Well done Futon and Art, another excellent edit and is continuing to do the fan editing community proud.

A very tight and enjoyable edit!

An absolutely fantastic edit!
Music replacement is always tricky, most of the time there's an issue with silenced sound effects or with the music not quite lining up with the content of the edit, but there's none of that here. I think there were one or two lines that were made a little quieter than they were meant to be, but it was hardly noticeable. By far the best music replacement I've seen in a fanedit so far.
As far as the narrative changes go. The story is definitely more "forgivable" from Mathilda's perspective. This has always been the case, but the original is definitely a bit too creepy in a lot of places.
This version is a lot more innocent when it comes to the characters' relationship, and it really highlights the part of the movie that makes it a classic while ignoring the parts that have nothing to do with why it's so respected.
There's not much else to say about it. If you showed this to anyone I think they'd love it regardless of the original. Absolutely would recommend.

Like most people interested in this edit, there are a lot of issues I have with the "romance" part of the film. And while I personally do think the extended cut is the better of the two official releases (at least from a plot and character development standpoint), that doesn't mean I can watch the extended edition without feeling icky. I feared there was no way to fix the romance angle without making the film less interesting, but I'm all for the improvement. So when I heard my good friend, ArtisDead, and futon88 were making an edit of this film to address this issue, I knew I couldn't resist. So, what are my thoughts on this edit?

In a word, wow.

Right from the start, it becomes clear that the choice to frame the entire film around Mathilda was a brilliant decision. Opening the film with Mathilda's introduction instead of Leon's was a surprising but welcome improvement. This also means that Leon's job as a hitman is hidden from us at first, making him more mysterious in the beginning. I like this idea, and I think it sets the film up on a stellar note.

I admit that I was worried about the changes in music, as I thought the original soundtrack (mainly the theatrical version) was just fine and never needed to be messed with. But I gotta say that the new music gave the film some added atmosphere that I appreciated. I was also surprised by the added comic relief in this edit, and in a good way, too. And there's something about Gary Oldman's performance that's disturbing as well. He feels way more paranoid, delusional, and unhinged in this edit, and it works. Also, before I forget, I really liked the montage showing Mathilda and Leon's training, and I thought it was edited very well.

If I have any nitpicks (and this is just me being ridiculously critical here), I can only think of one. There is a jump cut that occurs after Leon and Mathilda's first post-family massacre conversation which felt... Off. While I suppose it might work in a Quentin Tarantino film, the effect felt at odds with the style of this particular film. Of course, there's no way I'm going to give a negative review over a small decision like this one, but I think the sudden cut from having music to no music at all doesn't really mesh well for a film like this, at least on a stylistic level. I believe there is another jump cut that occurs later in the film, and my nitpick also applies to it as well.

That exception aside, this is without question my favorite version of Leon (or The Professional. Whichever title works for you). This edit gets a very high recommendation out of me. Thanks again, Futon and Art, for giving this film the cut it deserves.

UPDATE (5-8-23): Well, as it turns out, I owe Futon and Art an apology for the jump cut criticism I made above, because that jump cut was also in the original film. I admit that it's been years since I pulled out my blu-ray, and I assumed wrongly that Futon and Art made that choice. Because my memory is hazy, and I forgot that the film had it. So, I'm bumping my rating up to a perfect 10, as my biggest criticism against the edit is gone now. And it's also my way of saying, "I'm sorry, guys. I screwed up." Have a cookie, and congrats on becoming the first edit I've ever given a perfect 10 to.

This was one of my favorite movies in the 90's and I was amazed by how this edit improved the movie! The casting is fantastic and I think Gary Oldman was never given the credit he deserves and an actor.

This edit just does so many things right that I can't name them all. Taking out the air of creepiness that this film has associated with it (Portman is only 12 here) was probably the best thing the editors could have done. The flashbacks, and the music.... Ohhhh the music! As someone who has played with music myself I can't begin to describe the feeling I was getting as basically every single song choice was perfect in my eyes. I won't name them all but a couple of my favorites came from Tori Amos and Edie Brickell.

I should point out that the replacement music is only obvious because I know the source material really well. The editors blended everything in seamlessly and no one would even know if this was the first time watching the film and that is the goal of a good fanedit.