This movie irked me for the first 45 minutes or so. The plot it seriously flimsy, the hero is a middle aged droopy guy who looks more like a florist than an asskicker, and it reeks of 80s eurocheese. What's more, Beaumont (aside from being a droopy nebbish in a Member's Only pleather jacket) is a cad who's stringing along his wife and one of his hot coworkers. But then someone flips a switch and the movie gets much more interesting. This movie must have seriously inspired Luc Besson and the newer crop of French filmmakers - especially the showdown with Rosen and the fact that Valera has a Goldorak robot and Leiji Matsumoto manga on the walls of his flat. This had to be the inspiration for Jean Reno's character in Wasabi. I still don't buy Belmondo as someone chicks would want to have sex with, but his haymaker punches and karate kicks were quite amusing. Who else would put a searing-hot just-fired Magnum .44 in their trousers after blowing someone away?
Review of The Professional
