RONIN A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ***
Who or what is a Ronin, you ask? In somber, slow moving white text on a black background, a didactic RONIN feels compelled to explain the definition of its title before it lets the movie begin. With the solemnity befitting a religious epic, we learn that in feudal Japan, Samurai whose liege lords were killed were called Ronin. Forced to wander the countryside looking for work, they hired themselves out as contract killers or as whatever their new employers wanted.
(You'll be glad to know the introduction is little more than a confusing diversion having scant bearing on the movie at hand. Although there is some relevance, it is best ignored.)
John Frankenheimer, who has directed films as intriguingly excellent as THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and as laughably awful as THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, focuses all of his considerable talents for tension on RONIN.
The problem with the movie, however, stems directly from Frankenheimer's skill as an action director. He's too adept for his own good. The car chases, which are masterfully staged, overwhelm a much better psychological thriller underneath. After the one-hundredth car is demolished in his driving-against-heavy-traffic demolition derby, the audience is ready to cry "uncle." Stop already and get back to the plot.
The story trying desperately to get out is an outstanding character study of intrigue and double-dealing. Thanks to David Mamet's rewrite of J.D. Zeik's original script, the movie pulsates with Mamet's intelligent brand of terse, enigmatic dialog. (Mamet writes under the pseudonym Richard Weisz due to a contract dispute.)
As the movie opens, we meet a group of bad guys who know as little about what is happening as we do. An Irish ice goddess, who reveals little more than her name, Deirdre, has collected five criminals to pull off some unknown job. The veteran criminals are strangers who are instantly leery of each other.
As the organizer, Deirdre, Natascha McElhone from THE TRUMAN SHOW and MRS. DALLOWAY gives the best performance of her young career. An actress who is best when she has to keep her emotions closely in check, McElhone is perfectly cast for the role. Her character's coldness makes her few displays of genuine feelings all the more dramatic, none better than a brief kissing scene.
The odd assembly of crooks quickly begins to size up each other's skills. They even devise subtle tests of their acumen.
As Sam, Robert De Niro is Mr. Caution. If there's any doubt about a situation, he stays frozen in his tracks like a deer caught in the glare of a car's headlights. But, when he does move, De Niro shows that he can play a quite credible action hero.
The rest of the team of mutual distrust includes Jean Reno as Vincent, Stellan Skarsgard as Gregor, Skipp Suddeth as Larry and Sean Bean as Spence. The remainder of the ensemble cast is as good as the principals. Jonathan Pryce, for example, plays a sinister Irish leader named Seamus, who has an unstated mission.
The setup for the plot is that the team is supposed to steal a case of unknown contents, guarded by a group of unknown size, from a yet to be revealed location at some time in the near future. The movie is set in France and features great aerial location shots of Paris and Nice.
In this movie of cross, double-cross, and triple-cross, stealing the case becomes a child's game of case, case, who's got the case. The movie is at its very best when the least is known. This spirit, thankfully, is continually recaptured as many facts are found out not be true after all, leaving the gang to try to rediscover what is happening.
The sparse dialog uses the unspoken word even better the spoken to advance the storyline. Even knowing the old adage that there's no honor among thieves, the movie keeps surprising us.
"No questions, no answers, that's the business we're in," Vincent says at the end. This movie's business is as a mysterious thriller, not a mindless action picture. With about fifteen minutes of car chases edited out, the marvelous movie at its core could have gotten out. As delivered, it's many outstanding parts are obscured by endless, action sequences.
RONIN runs 1:58. It is rated R for violence and profanity and would be fine for teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews