Ronin

Ronin (1998)

Director: John Frankenheimer

Cast: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård, Sean Bean, Skipp Sudduth, Michael Lonsdale, Jonathan Pryce

Writers: J.D. Zeik, David Mamet

Synopsis:

A woman named Deirdre (McElhone) hires a group of mercenaries, including former intelligence operative, Sam (De Niro); the fixer, Vincent (Reno); former KGB computer specialist, Gregor (Skarsgård); wheel man, Larry (Sudduth); and former SAS soldier, Spence (Bean). The team's objective to to steal a mysterious attache case to prevent it from being sold to the Russians. Things don't always go as planned, however, and the team is forced to deal with betrayal from within and without.

First Impressions:

 I saw this film in the theaters upon it's release in 1998. I was about 22 years old at the time and smack dab in the middle of my pretentious "cine-file" phase. At the time, I quite enjoyed this movie because it was a solid spy thriller and just enough prestige behind it to make it appealing to the obnoxious movie snob I was back then. I didn't realize it at the time but this was probably one of De Niro's last really good movies before he became a caricature of himself (he had about one or two more good movies left in him by this point). I've watched this movie several times since then but its been many years since I've seen it last and I'll be interested to see what new tidbits I pull out of it this time around.

Story:

"Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt. That's the first thing they teach you."

 One of the cool things about writing this blog is that I get to discover new things about some of my favorite movies. For instance, the screenplay for this film was co-written by David Mamet and I can definitely see his fingerprints on this movie, particularly in the dialogue. I'm somewhat hit or miss with Mamet in general, I find  his dialogues can get a bit nonsensical as if he's trying to be a bit too profound or something (as evidenced by the quote at the beginning of this section). However, I found this wasn't the case in this film, which could be due to the fact that the story was conceived by and co-written by J.D. Zeik. 

All that aside, the story in this film is pretty good. I'm a big fan of spy movies but I think one of the things that has hurt the genre in general was the end of the cold war. To me, spy movies work best during that era, mostly because that was the golden age of espionage and this film plays very much into this line of thinking. The movie is literally about former intelligence operatives taking jobs as mercenaries to pay the bills because their governments no longer require their services. The premise itself basically parallels the state of the espionage genre at the the time the film was made. Even the name of the movie, Ronin, is in reference to masterless samurai who would roam the countryside offering their services to others. 

The actual plot is fairly linear, with a few twists and turns as is the case with most good spy films. The McGuffin is suitably mysterious and for most of the movie we don't really have any idea what it is or why it's so important. However, the attache case really isn't the focal point of the story, it's just a means to end as the real point is how these individuals cope in world that no longer needs them and how they learn to trust each other after a lifetime of trusting no one. 

Acting:

Overall, the acting in this movie is very good and it offers several great actors at the prime of their careers. we'll obviously start with De Niro, who plays the stoic Sam in a very understated way. It's always nice when De Niro can get away from the gangster rolls that he's so often associated with and branch out a bit. Mind you, a spy is not that far a reach but in this movie he plays Sam as an individual who's seen a lot of things over a very long career and just wants to get paid. One scene in particular stood out for me, which is the one where Sam is directing Vincent in how to extract a bullet from his abdomen. Instead of playing big with a lot of grunt and gritted teeth, De Niro goes the other way and plays it very quiet with the sense of urgency one might have if they're trying to pull a foreign object out of their body with little to no anesthesia.

Some other notable performances include Reno as Vincent, who is the only member of the group that seemingly has no intelligence training. While Vincent is clearly connected to the Paris underworld, he seems to have no real experience with the world of international espionage and, therefore, comes off almost with a sense of innocence, which contrasts well with Sam's world-weary ex-spy. I also have to take the time mention Sean Bean for two reasons, first of all his character Spence is a bit of a doofus, which is definitely a change of pace compared to most of Bean's characters. Usually, Bean plays extremely competent characters that are quite intimidating and good at what they do. However, Spence is really just a goober and the role showed decent range from an actor that is often pigeonholed into a certain type of character. Also, it should be noted (SPOILER ALERT) that Sean Bean's character does not die in this film, so there's that. 

The rest of the cast ranges from good to meh. Jonathan Pryce plays a pretty good villain, even if he does get a bit hammy at times and Skarsgård does well as the sketchy computer specialist, Gregor. Sudduth and Lonsdale also do well in minor roles. The only real disappointing performance was McElhone's Deidre, who just seemed stiff and uninterested throughout the whole film.

Visual/Special Effects:

There's not a lot of special or visual effects in this film apart from a fair amount of pyrotechnics and let's be honest, you've seen one car exploding you've seen them all. As is the case with movies that have a dearth of special effects, I often use this section to highlight a film's visuals. The film is shot with a very grey color pallet, unusual for a film set primarily in Paris and the south of France, which works well with the film's serious tone. I also noticed that, unlike many films set in Paris, cinematographer Robert Fraisse didn't use the established trope of including famous Parisian landmarks like the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe to make sure that everybody knows that the action is clearly taking place in Paris.

Score/Music:

As someone who has no ear for music, I find this section the hardest to write about. For the most part, one of my main criteria when judging a film's score or music is whether I find myself absently humming parts of it after watching it. This film doesn't really hit that criteria, in fact, as I write this I'm struggling to remember any music from this film. I'm sure it had some since Elia Cmiral is credited as doing the music but I honestly can't come up with even a single bar of music. As odd as it sounds, I'm actually going to say that this is a good thing because even though a good score can really highlight emotional moments in a movie a bad score can detract from the movie itself and take viewers out of the experience. 

Action:

While I wouldn't classify Ronin as an action movie, it does have a few great action beats, particularly when it comes to car chases. Over the years, Frankenheimer has shown a great deal of talent in shooting these types of action sequences and this film has not one but two great examples. The first one, shot throughout the countryside of the French Riviera and through the streets of Nice is fantastic as the cars race through the narrow streets and winding country roads. The second is even better in my opinion as the action races through the streets of Paris even going against traffic at one point. If car chases are your thing then this movie is worth a watch for that reason alone.

The rest of the action is done very well with several exciting gun battles scattered throughout the movie. However, this movie isn't really about action, it really lives in the build-up to that action. The calm before the storm, as it were. 

Final Verdict:

I loved this movie when it came out and I think I still rate this pretty high among my favorite espionage movies of all time. I'm definitely glad I own this film an I think its a shame that more move goers aren't aware of it.