RONIN
RATING: 7.5 / 10 --> Re-watchable
Review
Date:
September 29, 1998
Director:
John Frankenheimer
Writers:
J.D. Zeik and Richard Weisz (AKA David Mamet)
Producer:
Frank Mancuso Jr.
Actors:
Robert DeNiro as Sam
Jean Reno as Vincent
Stellan Skarsgård as Gregor
Natascha McElhone as Dierdre
Jonathan Pryce as Seamus
Genre:
Thriller
Year of Release: 1998
Director John
Frankenheimer makes us forget about his last disastrous outing
along the fat, old, powder-faced legend of the acting community,
Marlon Brando (THE ISLAND OF DR.MOREAU (5/10)) and hops right
into an old-fashioned espionage/car chase caper starring the
always interesting, Robert DeNiro.
PLOT:
A band of rogue mercenaries are hired by an unknown employer to
recover a mysterious briefcase in France. Unknown to one another,
the group attempt to reach their goal, while constantly keeping
an eye on each other. Lots of car chases through narrow streets,
shoot-outs and double-crossings pepper this lengthy thriller.
CRITIQUE:
Interesting, thrilling, well directed, yet overlong picture
features a couple of excellent car chases, fun shoot-outs, and
solid acting. Think HEAT (8/10) meets THE FRENCH CONNECTION
(6/10) in Paris! This film didn't pack the deepest story line of
all time (chase the briefcase everybody!), but it did manage to
keep me entertained through most of its lengthy sitting, and even
sparked some new life into the standard car chase scenes. I can't
truly say that I understood the finale, but for some reason, it
didn't really bother me either. I was quite entertained by the
film, and didn't really mind the semi-puzzling ending.
DeNiro was cool as a cat, as per his usual method style, and was
graced with some of the hipper lines in this movie (Did you ever
kill a guy? Deniro's response: "No, but I hurt somebody's
feelings once.") The rest of the cast was also pretty solid,
with Skarsgård standing out from the pack. The score of the film
also set the right atmosphere, as did the wonderful
cinematography, featuring the wonderful splendor of France. The
only negative points that I recognized in this film could be that
its final resolution was a little ambiguous, and that its
run-time was about twenty minutes too long.
Overall, this film will surely appeal to you if you enjoyed the
previously mentioned HEAT or FRENCH CONNECTION, and will
definitely not disappoint any DeNiro or car chase fans. This year
has not been a great year for thrillers, but RONIN makes sure
that it is present when all names are called. Strap yourself in,
learn some French, and get ready for a bumpy ride!!
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars:
Screenwriter Richard
Weisz is actually the one and f-kin' only, David Mamet.
Apparently, he is responsible for almost the entire screenplay,
but the Writer's Guild of America decided that he had to share
credit with J.D. Zeik, who originated the story, so Mamet elected
to go with the pseudonym instead.
None of the actors in this film were ever told what was really
supposed to be in the briefcase. The actual contents of the case
were really chocolate bars during the filming of this movie.
The finished project also left 83 cars "injured" after
shooting wrapped.
Ironically, director Frankenheimer also directed the dismal sequel to THE FRENCH
CONNECTION, called THE FRENCH CONNECTION II. Born in New York and
raised in Queens, John always wanted to become a professional
tennis player.
Robert DeNiro is the son of Robert De Niro Snr, an abstract
expressionist, and Virginia Admiral, a painter. He studied acting
at the Actors Studio with Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg. In his
1980 Oscar acceptance speech, Bobby thanked Joey LaMotta, who was
at the time suing United Artists for RAGING BULL's (7.5/10),
portrayal of him. In 1995, he and his girlfriend Toukie Smith had
twin sons, conceived by in-vitro fecundation.
As of the year 1998, Naomi Campbell claims that she has
only been "in love" once in her entire lifetime. The
person that she was in love with, was apparently Mr. Robert DeNiro.
Jonathan Pryce was one of the stars of DARK BLOOD, along with
Judy Davis and River Phoenix but the movie was never released due
to Phoenix's death during filming in 1993.
(c) 1998 Berge Garabedian
Movie Reviews by Berge Garabedian