Luc Besson’s Typical Vibe
Signature vibe

Highest-ranked title
Highest-ranked title
Luc Besson has 49 titles in the CriticCrunch catalog across a career spanning the 1980s through the 2020s. 2 sit in the Top 1% of all titles we track — including Léon: The Professional.
Recurring themes

District B13
2004 · Movie · Writer
Top 19%Prime Video · Included

Taxi
1998 · Movie · Writer
Top 23%Tubi · Free w/ ads

Lucy
2014 · Movie · Director · Writer
Top 37%Netflix · Included

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
2017 · Movie · Director · Writer
Top 37%Max · Included

Subway
1985 · Movie · Director · Writer
Top 39%Tubi · Free w/ ads

Weekend in Taipei
2024 · Movie · Writer
Top 40%MGM+ · Included

Léon, the top hit man in New York, has earned a rep as an effective "cleaner". But when his next-door neighbors are wiped out by a loose-cannon DEA agent, he becomes the unwilling custodian of 12-year-old Mathilda. Before long, Mathilda's thoughts turn to revenge, and she considers following in Léon's footsteps.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Jean Reno, Natalie Portman, Gary Oldman

In 2257, a taxi driver is unintentionally given the task of saving a young girl who is part of the key that will ensure the survival of humanity.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman
Bryan Mills, a former government operative, is trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter Kim. After reluctantly agreeing with his ex-wife to let Kim go to Paris on vacation with a friend, his worst nightmare comes true. While on the phone with his daughter shortly after she arrives in Paris, she and her friend are abducted by a gang of human traffickers. Working against the clock, Bryan relies on his extensive training and skills to track down the ruthless gang that abducted her and launch a one-man war to rescue his daughter.
Dir. Pierre Morel · With Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen

A boy, bruised by life, finds his salvation through the love of his dogs.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Caleb Landry Jones, Jojo T. Gibbs, Christopher Denham

In late 15th-century Eastern Europe, Prince Vlad II’s bride is brutally murdered. As a result, he renounces God and damns Heaven itself. Cursed with eternal life, Vlad is reborn as Dracula, an immortal warlord who defies fate in a blood-soaked crusade to wrench his lost love back from death.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Caleb Landry Jones, Zoë Bleu Sidel, Christoph Waltz

Childhood friends Jacques and Enzo share a passion for the danger of free diving. Jacques, following in the footsteps of his father, who died at sea when Jacques was a boy, harbors a remarkable ability to adjust his heart rate and breathing patterns in the water, with his vital signs more closely resembling those of dolphins than men.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Rosanna Arquette, Jean-Marc Barr, Jean Reno

A beautiful felon, sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a policeman, is given a second chance – as a secret political assassin controlled by the government.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Anne Parillaud, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Tchéky Karyo

Liu Jian, an elite Chinese police officer, comes to Paris to arrest a Chinese drug lord. When Jian is betrayed by a French officer and framed for murder, he must go into hiding and find new allies.
Dir. Chris Nahon · With Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, Tchéky Karyo

Set in the ghettos of Paris in 2010, an undercover cop and ex-thug try to infiltrate a gang in order to defuse a neutron bomb.
Dir. Pierre Morel · With David Belle, Cyril Raffaelli, Tony D'Amario

Former Special Forces officer Frank Martin will deliver anything to anyone for the right price, and his no-questions-asked policy puts him in high demand. But when he realizes his latest cargo is alive, it sets in motion a dangerous chain of events. The bound and gagged Lai is being smuggled to France by a shady American businessman, and Frank works to save her as his own illegal activities are uncovered by a French detective.
Dir. Corey Yuen, Louis Leterrier · With Jason Statham, Shu Qi, François Berléand

Beneath Anna Poliatova's striking beauty lies a secret that will unleash her indelible strength and skill to become one of the world's most feared government assassins.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Sasha Luss, Helen Mirren, Luke Evans

In Marseilles a skilled pizza delivery boy Daniel who drives a scooter finally has his dreams come true. He gets a taxi license. Caught by the police for a huge speed infraction, he will help Emilien, a loser inspector who can't drive, on the track of German bank robbers, so he doesn't lose his license and his dream job.
Dir. Gérard Pirès · With Samy Naceri, Frédéric Diefenthal, Marion Cotillard

A beautiful and mysterious woman helps an inept scam artist get his game together... but is their meeting purely coincidence?
Dir. Luc Besson · With Jamel Debbouze, Rie Rasmussen, Gilbert Melki
After witnessing her parents’ murder as a child in Bogota, Cataleya Restrepo grows up to be a stone-cold assassin. She works for her uncle as a hitman by day, but her personal time is spent engaging in vigilante murders that she hopes will lead her to her ultimate target: the mobster responsible for her parents' death.
Dir. Olivier Megaton · With Zoe Saldaña, Cliff Curtis, Callum Blue
After a mysterious chest opens a gateway through time, teen gamer Jack is transported to an ancient empire terrorized by a cruel barbarian king. Jack will need all of his gaming skills as he battles to defeat the barbarian, protect a beautiful princess, and somehow find his way back home.
Dir. Matthias Hoene · With Uriah Shelton, Ni Ni, Dave Bautista

A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik

In the 28th century, Valerian and Laureline are special operatives charged with keeping order throughout the human territories. On assignment from the Minister of Defense, the two undertake a mission to Alpha, an ever-expanding metropolis where species from across the universe have converged over centuries to share knowledge, intelligence, and cultures. At the center of Alpha is a mysterious dark force which threatens the peaceful existence of the City of a Thousand Planets, and Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen

Fred, a raffish safe blower, takes refuge in the Paris Metro after being chased by the henchmen of a shady businessman from whom he has just stolen some documents. While hiding out in the back rooms and conduits of the Metro, Fred encounters a subterranean society of eccentric characters and petty criminals.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Isabelle Adjani, Christopher Lambert, Richard Bohringer

A former DEA agent and a former undercover operative revisit their romance during a fateful weekend in Taipei, unaware of the dangerous consequences of their past.
Dir. George Huang · With Luke Evans, Gwei Lun-Mei, Sung Kang

James Reese has a good job as an ambassador's aid in France, but his real passion is a side gig—working in a minor role in the CIA. He would love to be a full-fledged agent and can't believe his luck when he lands an assignment with Charlie Wax. Trigger-happy Charlie soon has James crying for his desk job, but when he learns that the same guys they're trying to catch are after him, James realises that Charlie may be his only hope of survival.
Dir. Pierre Morel · With John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Kasia Smutniak

Damien and Leito return to District 13 on a mission to bring peace to the troubled sector that is controlled by five different gang bosses, before the city’s secret services take drastic measures to solve the problem.
Dir. Patrick Alessandrin · With Cyril Raffaelli, David Belle, Philippe Torreton

The plot explores the devastation of civilization and issues of brutality, hostility and isolation. Pierre Jolivet stars as the main character (identified only as "The Man" in the end credits) who is menaced by "The Brute" (played by Jean Reno) on his journey through a world filled by people rendered nearly mute by some unknown incident.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Pierre Jolivet, Jean Bouise, Fritz Wepper

In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills and his wife are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper Mills killed while rescuing his daughter.
Dir. Olivier Megaton · With Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen

The story of Aung San Suu Kyi as she becomes the core of Burma's democracy movement, and her relationship with her husband, writer Michael Aris.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Susan Wooldridge, Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis

Professional driver, and former Special Forces officer, Frank Martin is living in Miami, where he is temporarily filling in for a friend as the chauffeur for a government narcotics control policy director and his family. The young boy in the family is targeted for kidnapping, and Frank immediately becomes involved in protecting the child and exposing the kidnappers.
Dir. Louis Leterrier · With Jason Statham, Amber Valletta, Alessandro Gassmann

Ex-government operative Bryan Mills finds his life is shattered when he's falsely accused of a murder that hits close to home. As he's pursued by a savvy police inspector, Mills employs his particular set of skills to track the real killer and exact his unique brand of justice.
Dir. Olivier Megaton · With Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace
A cabdriver and a cop race to Paris to rescue a love interest and the Japanese minister of defense from kidnappers.
Dir. Gérard Krawczyk · With Samy Naceri, Frédéric Diefenthal, Marion Cotillard

In 1429, a French teenager stood before her King with a message she claimed came from God; that she would defeat the world's greatest army and liberate her country from its political and religious turmoil. As she reclaims God's diminished kingdom, this courageous young woman has various amazing victories until her violent and untimely death.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Milla Jovovich, John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway

Ten-year-old Arthur, in a bid to save his grandfather's house from being demolished, goes looking for some much-fabled hidden treasure in the land of the Minimoys, tiny people living in harmony with nature.
Dir. Luc Besson · With Freddie Highmore, Madonna, Mia Farrow
Frank Martin puts the driving gloves on to deliver Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of a Ukrainian government official, from Marseilles to Odessa on the Black Sea. En route, he has to contend with thugs who want to intercept Valentina's safe delivery and not let his personal feelings get in the way of his dangerous objective.
Dir. Olivier Megaton · With Jason Statham, Natalya Rudakova, François Berléand
Top Collaborators
Directors with 2+ shared titles, ranked by frequency