DVDs in Review

The Luc Besson Blu-ray Collection

Title: The Luc Besson Blu-ray Collection

Release date: September 14 2009

Certificate: 18

Format: Reviewed on Blu-ray, available on DVD

DVD RRP: £24.99 each

Rating: 4.5/5

Optimum have remastered a fantastic collection of Luc Besson's greatest (and least viewed) films onto Blu-ray. Across the board, the transfers are fantastic. Released separately, the titles are:

• Nikita (1990)
• Subway (1985)
• Atlantis (1991)
• The Last Battle (1983)
• The Big Blue (1988)
• Leon: The Professional (Director's Cut) (1994)
• Angel-A (2005)

'Nikita' is the kind of film that shows why Besson should direct more crime films. Mixing slick style and gritty substance, 'Nikita' sees the titular character saved from a spell in jail and instead trained up to become an assassin.

American/British audiences may be more familiar with the Bridget Fonda remake in 1993, but this French classic is the definitive version. Anne Parillaud is the rebellious girl who takes arms by request. An obvious influence on Besson's later 'Leon', this is a cracking little thriller that revolutionised the femme fatale character. Highly recommended.

Nikita gets to grips with a new life

'Subway' plays more like a dicey music video; too much style and too little substance. Reeking heavily of the 1980s, it depicts the criminal life which inhabits the Paris Metro system which could've been a fantastically bleak instalment in Besson's catalogue but instead falls through.

Larger than life characters hide not very well in the shadows, a train and a safe are robbed, there's some ineffectual flirting and even an attempt to start a rock band, but at the end of the day, very little of real interest happens. It's a curious departure from the director who was, at this point in 1985, still unsure of himself.

'Subway' probably should've stayed underground

'Atlantis' on the other hand has almost perfect visual style. Besson's aquatic documentary provides some rich and arresting images. Doing away with conventional narration, he lets long time collaborator Eric Serrra's score do the talking.

Majestic and strangely educational in its underwater voyages, 'Atlantis' gives the audience a glimpse at a world that seems somewhat majestic when not flattened by the usual academic narration track.

'The Last Battle' - actually one of his first and most victorious works

'The Last Battle' is one of Besson's most underrated works and one of his very earliest stabs at filmmaking. It paired him with his frequent collaborator Jean Reno (here playing the bad guy) for a tale of apocalyptic sci-fi set in a land of scavengers and thieves.

Not as gritty as it sounds, 'The Last Battle' is more of an exercise in (almost) overblown style instead of a 'Mad Max' style descent into despaired action. In fact, 'The Last Battle' only contains two lines of dialogue. This is a film you watch, not listen to, and you'll be glad you saw it.

Everything (especially the photography) is A-OK in 'The Big Blue'

'The Big Blue' could be seen as a precursor to 'Atlantis'. Set again primarily on the ocean, it's a brilliantly blue, free-roaming and stunning film - Besson's first English film in fact.

It tells the tale of competition and friendship of two divers, who push each other (literally) deeper and deeper into the abyss. A brilliant, rewarding film, this is one of Besson's greatest achievements.

Jean Reno and Natalie Portman hit the bulls-eye in 'Leon'

'Leon: The Professional' is probably his masterpiece. A young girl, Mathilda (Natalie Portman) is trained in violence and general life by a wise, introverted assassin named Leon (the indispensable Jean Reno).

Spicing up the mix is a deliriously over the top performance from Gary Oldman as a coked-up obsessive and crooked cop, looking for his criminal operation to go ahead as planned. New York provides the setting of this absolutely perfect blend of style and substance. This is the first UK release of the director's cut which does slow things down somewhat but provides a lot more detail in the long run.

'Angel-A': The chemistry isn't there, but the style is

'Angel-A' is one of Besson's most recent and overlooked films. Shot in noir-ish black and white, it tells the tale of two strangers who meet on a bridge in Paris. One has a criminal past, the other is steeped in mystery, they join forces and their lives head for a devastatingly different conclusion.

But more important than the somewhat flimsy plot, is the stunning cinematography by Thierry Arbogast in what marked his fifth collaboration with the trend-setting director.

All in all, the majority of these films are recommended - the pinnacle (and most accessible) of the bunch being 'Leon', but the rest are all great in their own way, even if that just means in terms of style instead of substance. The extra features range from just trailers to in-depth documentaries. Kudos to Optimum for another fine set of re-releases.