A long time ago, I was browsing the aisles in my local Blockbuster when I espied a movie called The Professional. The cover of the video (this is before the advent of DVDs) was so compelling, I never forgot it. It featured a man's face hidden behind small round sunglasses, wearing a tight knit hat. He was backlit by flames.
As the years went by, I kept seeing that movie in various video rental stores, but never picked it up. I found out it was about a hitman, which made me want to see it even more. It features an all-star cast including Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Danny Aiello, and a very young Natalie Portman.
Finally, I had Netflix send me a copy which I just now watched. And to my dismay, the movie was rather disappointing. Perhaps some of my disappointment had to do with years of being built up in my mind. Or maybe it just sucked. It had a saccharine 90's flair for stupid side characters and absurd antics beyond the realm of Hollywood foolishness. I know, I know I tend to have too-high expectations for realism that Hollywood usually doesn't provide, but this was just beyond reason. They could have done much better.
The storyline was good. Jean Reno was great. The 90's, however, I'm beginning to believe, were as bad as the 80's. God help us.