Ronin (1998)

'Ronin' was somehow an unknown to me as of weeks ago. I say that because... what a cast! How have I at least not heard of this in passing in all my years on this Earth? That plus the type of plot makes this right up my alley, on paper I'd love it and, pleasantly, in reality I do too. The film is particularly excellent visually, the cinematography is quality and the stunts are outstanding; even little things, like the initial old movie-esque end credit font is nice to look at. The score is also a plus point, which is evidently one of many bits that this has going for it. Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård, Sean Bean, Jonathan Pryce, Michael Lonsdale... as already noted, this 1998 release features a stellar cast list. De Niro is the main ace of the pack here, though Reno and McElhone are especially worthy of note. I will say that the ending is less entertaining than anticipated, which is a surprise. It's not a disappointing conclusion whatsoever, I still liked it, but it did feel like a weird sorta drop-off from what proceeds in terms of pacing and all that. Again, not really much of an issue to be honest.

It would not be fair to describe a "Ronin" as a rogue; more a mercenary without loyalty to any one particular person or cause. So, Natasha McElhone "Deirdre" hires a few of these to relieve a man of a suitcase that is bound for the Russians. What follows is as internecine a thriller as you will ever see. It's full of scheming and double-scheming with "Sam" (Robert De Niro) and "Vincent" (Jean Reno) never quite sure who is or is not on their team as the suitcase changes hands more times that the wonderfully elegant Katarina Witt changes her skates. Stellan Skarsgård; Sean Bean; Jonathan Pryce and Michael Lonsdale all help to keep them, and us, guessing pretty much right to the end. It does suffer a little from a preponderance of shoot outs that couldn't hit a barn door with a shovel; and the car chases do begin to get wearisome after a while, but over all John Frankenheimer manages to keep the quality of the action to a high enough standard to compensate. The dialogue is a bit basic, as are the characterisations - this has no depth nor underlying political agenda/statements - not the I could discern, anyway - it is just a good old fashioned thriller with a first rate cast who are unchallenged by their tasks - and therefore are perfectly plausible.

**A little boring with a great car chase scene.** Even though Ronin had shootouts, great chase sequences, and classic actors, I was bored and on my phone throughout the whole thing. Nothing was particularly bad about this film. There were actually great parts! But somehow, the sum of all its parts just equaled a movie that left me wanting. Releasing four years after Leon: The Professional, this could have been much better.