The Professional

I found the movie profoundly emotional. The side story with the wife and the lover gets an insight into Jean Paul Belmondo's character's personality. It is a bit far fetched that his character would go to such lengths to accomplish what he accomplished in the end, however, you spend so much time in prison for standing by your country and see how you will react. I think that the suspension of disbelief in this movie is not too hard. The ending is also excellent. When the movie ends you realize how much you felt for the main character. The soundtrack is also excellent and it adds to the overall emotionality of the movie.

Some good old violence, car chasing and the no nonsense guy Josselin Beaumont make this easily to understand movie a typical french product which remind you of the days that they made "good movies". I like the acting of Belmondo, his leather jacket and the sound when he smashes or kicks someone in the face. The plot is worth nothing, but who cares when you're only watching it for the environment and the nonchalance behaviour of Joss.

One of the rare instances when the music composer is the hero. This is Morricone's film. his famous tune "Chi Mai" is played in many scenes and it lifts many ordinary ones to another level. On the surface, the film is like a tongue in cheek revenge drama. Belmondo plays a French Rambo who is sent to an African nation to assassinate its leader. But he is hung out to dry by the French intelligence services and is jailed following a public trial. After a dramatic escape from an African slave camp, Belmondo returns to France to take revenge on the people who betrayed him. But if you look closely, the film is an odd mix of many genres. It is not just an action film. Sure, there is a spaghetti western style shoot out, a pulsating car chase and some seriously violent action. The women are all objects of sex who want to sleep with Belmondo or get coffee for the superiors. But it is also a satire about the incompetence of French intelligence agencies and how the leaders of first world countries and third world countries are in bed with each other. At one point, a French intelligence agent remarks irritably about a countryside mansion (where an African leader and his prostitute are residing) - "Why are we deploying such a large police force to protect this whorehouse?" The gritty and violent beginning in Africa, is at odds with Belmondo's adventures in France. It is not a bad film. I'm sure there is a context which I don't really get because I'm no expert on French politics and foreign policy. Belmondo is awesome. He must have been pretty old when he made this, but he was really pumped up. The women are all nice eye candy. There is even a lesbian torturer who tries to move in on Belmondo's wife only to get a karate chop on her neck. But like I said at the beginning, the real hero of this film is good old Ennio.

Over the past few years I have been watching Hollywood action films because there was nothing much else to see. Now I am 16 years old and saw this incredible film 2 months ago. I must say that this film is much better than the silly Hollywood "action movies". Compared to the french films from the 80-s they look stupid and funny. I have seen 10-12 French films, but this one is maybe the best of them. It is an action film, but it is not the action that impressed me. The whole story is perfect. The film has no "Happy End" unlike the Hollywood blockbusters. When the credits began to come out, I said "And he died? Like that?!" My mother said "This is French Cinema". The sad ending makes the film much stronger and it is difficult to forget what it was all about. The Music composed by Ennio Morricone is one of a kind. Chi Mai is always in my play list, I hear it every day. The whole film is just incredible. It's too bad, that couple Friends of mine don't agree, that this movie is better than the Hollywood ones. They haven't yet seen a french film to talk like that. HIGHLY RECOMMENTED

A tailor-made vehicle for Belmondo, out-Burting Burt Reynolds in this action flick with non-stop action. The whole thing is laughable thirty years later because we are used to Bourne Identities coming out of our fannies, but this is how they made films before CGI and mega budgets: a charming star, an excellent ensemble cast, well-motivated action, and a relatively tight script. Okay, it's cheesy by modern standards, but one must remember French politics re. Africa (remember Bokassa? The French do) and mercenaries. It makes more sense to the French, and certainly didn't export well. But you can nonetheless see why Belmondo could get away with a certain wink at the camera Burt smarminess, because he always played it with a touch of comedy, and he was way more charming than Burt ever was. ALthough you can read this film as played for laughs, at the time it's plot was believable, and the cold-hearted treatment of citizens by government forces is certainly more than believable to Europeans. Watch it and enjoy. How many low budget action films stand up 30 years later? This one does, and the subtitling is pretty good.

The tale of an assassin left behind, and his quest to get revenge has been done in many movies. For about 50 minutes, this version isn't in any way exceptional, and has nothing special going for it - in fact, at times, it is rather silly. Then we get to a high noon duel in the streets of Paris - and you have to pause, and ask yourself - did I accidentally change channels and ran into a Sergeo Leone film? Because this scene is definitely good enough for "Once Upon a Time in the West"... accompanied as it is with Ennio Morricones score. From this moment the film becomes faster, more intense and more interesting, until it culminates in the absolutely classic scene of Belmondo walking away towards the helicopter, with "Chi Mai" (bet you heard the tune before, and had no idea where it's from) accompanying him...

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?

This is the best movie that Jean Paul Belmondo performance the movie came to this country in 1982 and you can see it how france handle political situation.. is the same way that countries in the first world treated third world countries during that time and if you remember during the 80's cold war was in the very best successful, beside this the acting is good and Ennio Morricone music "Chi Mai" combined with the dramatical scenes gives to you a spectacular moment that you never are going to forget this is the kind of movie for have in collection but unfortunately is not released in DVD region#1 or VHS but if you have an opportunity to rent it in your local video store ""DO IT""

A French action movie with a little bit of everything an action movie should have. It certainly holds the interest of the viewer and the musical score is exceptional. Unfortunately, the plot is a bit far fetched -- not the concept of the French government being as blood-thirsty and unethical as the US government, but instead it is far fetched on a more personal level. It is painfully obvious that real life people would not go through such extended tedious motions to accomplish simple objectives. The overall tone seemed to dry to sustain unlikely spy-man antics. Not being French, I did not really see how the wife + girlfriend element added to the story. Like THE KILLER, the biggest downer is in the last few seconds of the movie.

Seeing this movie in 2018, you may wonder about the ratings. The ultra thin story: French secret agent Belmondo, sold out in the middle of his mission -to kill an african president- first searches for the viewers pity as a maltreated prisoner in some african camps. Once he is able to escape -2 years later-, he has nothing in mind than still to kill that president, who visits France and now is in friendly relationship with France, against governamental interests. And yes, with barely no twists at all in the script, he succeeds. That's it. We also witness a 1:1 western style pistol duel, but placed in the middle of Paris. Not later than now, you begin to scratch your head. Of course Belmondo is a legend, liked by men and possibly more by women, but the shadow of this quite sensless script IMO is just to dark to be able to like the movie. As smart, intelligent and charismatic agent he might be in this movie, he can't save it. Also the laconic, repetitive soundtrack, praised by some, IMO does draw down this movie even more, it just emphasizes the inevitability, for which you can't find a reason.