Movies Home / Entertainment Channel / Bullz-Eye Home
Buy your copy from Amazon.com
| Ronin (1998 )
  
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgard, Sean Bean, Skipp Sudduth, Jonathan Pryce Director: John Frankenheimer Rating: R Category: Action/Suspense  |
There shouldn’t be any doubt as to whether or not a guy like Robert De Niro is a film legend, but by the end of the 1990s, the veteran actor did make some pretty interesting career moves. Clearly sick and tired of playing the hardboiled gangster-type in movies like “Goodfellas,” “Casino” and “Heat,” De Niro decided he’d test the waters as a comic actor, but before selling his soul to the Devil (ie. “The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle”), he made a cool little crime thriller called “Ronin.” Released in 1998 (just towards the end of De Niro’s prime) and starring an ensemble cast including the likes of Jean Reno, Sean Bean and Jonathan Pryce, “Ronin” may not be the most logical thriller around, but it features great action and perhaps the best car chase ever captured on film.
De Niro stars as Sam, a former U.S. Intelligence agent who’s been hired by the IRA to track down and steal a top-secret briefcase before the owner sells it to the highest bidder. Joining Sam in the heist are five other mercenaries - Irish team leader Deirdre (Natascha McElhone), French supplier Vincent (Reno), German computer expert Gregor (Stellan Skasgard), British weapons specialist Spence (Bean), and American getaway driver Larry (Skipp Sudduth) – but pulling off the job proves more difficult than expected. Betrayal and deception are lurking around every corner (one of the members doesn’t even last thirty minutes before being unceremoniously booted from the team), but Sam isn’t about to be bested by a couple of amateurs looking to make a quick buck. He needs this paycheck. Bad. And he’ll do whatever it takes to make sure he gets his due.
Much like the classic crime thrillers of the ‘60s and ‘70s (think “Mission: Impossible” and “The French Connection”), “Ronin” is less about being able to comprehend what’s going on, and more about sitting back and having a good time. In fact, the story jumps around so much throughout the 121-minute runtime that you’ll almost certainly lose interest midway through. The briefcase switches hands more times than anyone could probably keep track of, and with the departure of one character comes the introduction of another, not to mention new plot twists that have little effect on the outcome of the story.
What’s essentially so great about “Ronin,” though, is that the movie never seems to take itself quite as seriously as it probably should. Instead, the film is best enjoyed as an homage to the crime genre, and director John Frankenheimer does an impeccable job with the material. The set pieces aren’t flashy, but to the point, and the film’s stunt driving rivals that of “Bullit” and “The Bourne Identity.” De Niro and Reno also punch in respectable performances as the “good guys” of the story, but their development is so limited that it’s difficult to invest in their characters. This is a guilty pleasure, no doubt, and could probably rank among De Niro’s less significant films, but it’s also a modern classic deserving of at least some attention.
DVD Review:
I was surprised to hear that Sony was releasing a two-disc Special Edition of “Ronin.” Not because the film didn’t deserve the special edition treatment, but because, frankly, it’s not that popular of a movie. It’s here, nonetheless, and is packed with hours of bonus material, including a decent audio commentary track with director John Frankenheimer and a slightly different alternate ending. The second disc is actually where all the goodies are, though, and while some featurettes like “Composing the Ronin Score” and the making-of documentary “Ronin: Filming in the Fast Lane” didn’t exactly whet my appetite, there was still plenty of extra material to enjoy.
And since the film’s car chases are widely considered as some of the best ever, the new DVD makes sure to cover the stunt driving on more than one occasion. “The Driving of Ronin” is completely dedicated to discussing (in detail) the filming of each chase scene, but sadly, it’s all in French. This isn’t such a big problem if you don’t mind reading subtitles, but you can also get a lot of the same information (in English) from the cinematography featurette, “Through the Lens.” Also present on disc two is an excellent post-production extra with film editor Toby Gibbs (“In the Cutting Room”), a 13-minute sitdown with Natascha McElhone as she recalls on-set memories (“An Actor’s Process”), and archived interviews with the cast from the 1998 Venice Film Festival.
~Jason Zingale
jzingale@bullz-eye.com