Movies
Rev Your Engines And Get Gassed Up For “Ronin”
Ronin (1998) has everything you need to make a quality one-off action movie.
“A freelancing former U.S. Intelligence Agent tries to track down a mysterious package that is wanted by the Irish and the Russians.”
Director: John Frankenheimer
Writers: J.D. Zeil, David Mamet
Staring: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård, Sean Bean
Release Date: September 25, 1998
IMDB
Ronin (1998) has everything you need to make a quality one-off action movie. It has a charismatic lead, an interesting secondary character, a complex team of complicated characters, a very vague team leader and a backstabber who stays hidden till his betrayal is unavoidable. There is an overshadowing evil cloud covering the entire operation, but the puller of the strings is just as in the dark about what our hero is capable of.
The movie starts out with a team assembly. Sam (Robert De Niro) walks into a coffee shop and is soon shuttled to a warehouse where he meets Vincent (Jean Reno), Gregor (Stellan Skarsgård), Spence (Sean Bean) and Larry (Skipp Sudduth). This gang of self-serving personalities are all listening to Deirdre (Natascha McElhone), who is telling them about what it is they need to steal. She won’t tell them what it is, but she has lots of pertinent information that will seemingly make their job easier.
After a poor rendezvous acquiring guns and the exposing of false intelligence, Sam and company embark on the saboteur mission they were hired to do. It is at this moment where Ronin starts gathering chaotic momentum for it is revealed that there is a third party interested in the mysterious item. Ronin becomes international with the introduction of certain nefarious Russian personalities and the cloaked famed Irish criminal Seamus O’Rourke (Jonthan Pryce). Sam and Vincent become the pursuers in a rapidly shifting cat-and-mouse game.
It is going to come off like a broken record on repeat, but the use of practical effects in Ronin is part of the reason why the movie works so well. The grinding metallic feel of the explosions and action sequences is best during the car chase sequences which are, simply put, FUCKING OUTSTANDING. I say this with total sincerity that the second car chase in Ronin is up there as the best car chase I have ever seen.
Director John Frankenheimer puts his camera on the hood of the cars and ruthlessly steers his way through the streets of Paris. Cops, who needs them? We need multi-car pile ups, construction zone obstructions, frantic pedestrians and a satisfying final crunch.
Frankenheimer used real live action shots without adjusting the processing speed or speeding up any frame rates. There were over 80 cars destroyed in the making of the movie, and supposedly over 300 stunt drivers were employed to make sure all facets went as smooth as possible. It was realism to the upteenth degree, and it was felt by all the actors involved.
As cited in Hagerty: “I wasn’t prepared for how frightening it would be,” said Jonathan Pryce (Seamus). “I told Frankenheimer: ‘I’ve done Shakespeare, I’ve done Chekhov, and now I’ve done Fear.’ There was no acting on my part, believe me.”
It is nine minutes of non-stop white knuckling. And fuck it. Because Ronin came out in 1998, just watch the car chase below. It may be the appetizer you need to enjoy the full entree.
Ronin does a fantastic job of blending the story with the action. The multiple different crime entities going after the briefcase of desire can get a little bit convoluted, but one quickly forgets about certain characters disappearing when the guns start blasting and the engines start revving.
For example, the Sean Bean character of Spence serves a purpose for the first act of the movie, then disappears, never to resurface or matter again. One would expect that Spence would reappear at the end of the film as part of a different syndicate, but he simply vanishes.
The ending of the movie is admittedly not Ronin’s strongest part. There is more face time with Seamus, and that was always the ultimate goal for Sam. As part of the NRA, Seamus is the one who was pulling the strings and getting all the necessary information to Deirdre. Sam making sure he was part of the initial group of criminals was just the first step toward his end goal.
Who Sam really is a mystery throughout Ronin and remains so even at the end of the film. The name of the movie is Ronin, and there is a part of the movie where the reason for the name of the movie is given with very explicit purpose. It is on the nose, but who cares. The only thing one truly remembers about Ronin are its car chase sequences, and that is the only thing that matters. If you have two moments that are compared to genius like Bullit (1968) and The French Connection (1971), then you are in for a great time.
As of August 2023, Ronin is streaming on Paramount+ and HBO Max.
STANKO RATING: B+
Stanko Excel Lists | Movies, Books, Podcasts. TV Shows
Stanko Letterdbox Account
Ranking The Mission: Impossible Films: #7 – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023)
There is a lot happening in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. One could argue that there is too much going on.
Ranking The Mission: Impossible Films: #8 – Mission: Impossible II (2000)
Much maligned as the worst of the Mission: Impossible franchise, Mission: Impossible II doesn’t do itself any favors upon rewatch.
Four Shorty Reactions: “MaXXXine” (2024), “Monkey Man” (2024), “Raising Arizona” (1987), “Scoop” (2024)
MaXXXine (2024) “In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.” Director: Ti WestWriter: Ti WestCast: Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Halsey, Lily Collins, Kevin Bacon, Bob Cannavale, Michelle…
Stanko's Stance 