The twilight of the cold warriors
Ronin A Film Review By Michael Redman Copyright 1998 By Michael Redman
*** (Out of ****)
The people who completely devote themselves to a leader or a cause live with a double-edged sword. In one sense their life is easy. They are positive about what is right and justified in doing anything and everything to achieve their goal. On the other hand, if that to which they are dedicated disappears, they are lost, without purpose.
In ancient Japan these rogues were called Ronin. Nowadays they are called former CIA and KGB agents.
When a Japanese feudal lord was killed, his samurai were masterless and often roamed the countryside selling their skills to the highest bidders. In Ronin, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the modern homeless samurai become criminals-for-hire.
Ex-CIA operative Sam (Robert De Niro) is recruited by comely Irish lass Deirdre (Natascha McElhone) to help engineer a high jacking. No one knows much about the job. For Seamus (Jonathan Pryce), an unseen employer with an unknown motive, he's supposed to steal a metallic box with a mystery content from an unknowable number of men who are somewhere. Sam doesn't care about the details: he's in it for the bucks.
In Paris, he's joined by ex-KGB computer expert Gregor (Stellan Skarsgard), weapons specialist Spence (Sean Bean), driver Larry (Skipp Sudduth) and their local French connection Vincent (Jean Reno). Slowly they find out more about their mission but never more than they need to know and often not even that much.
The heist becomes more complex than they expected when they have to race an unidentified group of Russians to the prize while entangled in betrayal, double and triple-crosses. The audience rarely knows anything more about what is going on than do the participants. Like the owls in "Twin Peaks", no one is what they seem.
In the early sixties, director John Frankenheimer gave us two masterpieces of political suspense, "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Seven Days In May". This film doesn't live up to its ancestors, but there are aspects that make a strong stab at it.
"Ronin" has an odd feel throughout. The colors are severely muted, as if it were shot entirely at twilight on an extremely hazy day. This lends itself to an indistinct visual aspect that mirrors the hazy plot. It also makes it look like a washed-out film from decades ago.
As is to be expected in action films, there are plenty of car chases, but they are the strangest that I can remember. Even though there are explosions and wrecks galore as a shoot-out takes place racing against traffic on an expressway, they are remarkably unspectacular.
Huge trucks overturn and explode, but they're only onscreen for a second. Cars flip over and over but are only seen out of the corner of your eye. This is contrary to the current style of focusing on the disasters, seeing them over and over from different points of view. Although this imparts a participatory feeling to the action -- after all, if you're in a speeding car you're not going to spend a lot of time looking in the rear view mirror -- there's a lack of spectacle which leaves the audience wanting something with a little more oomph.
There's a coldness to the characters that doesn't allow us to get to know any of them very well. This makes some sense as people in their particular profession can't afford to let too much out or get very involved. But this prevents the audience from caring much about them. The one time where the detachment does work well is when Sam kisses Deirdre to fool passing police. The ice princess' passionate response has more impact because it is the only time during the movie that she lets loose with any emotion.
Sam's friendship with Vincent is one of the few human relationships in the film. Although they know little about each other, they bond out of necessity, trusting each other with their lives. In the world of the Ronin, you take it where you can get it but you also know that the next time you meet up, you might be on opposite sides.
The success of the film lies mostly in the strength of the actors. De Niro is always a master on screen. His weary but dedicated Sam is exactly what he should be. Although he's made some questionable choices in his career ("Mission Impossible", "Godzilla"), Reno has a face and presence made for movies. He's the tough guy that you want to like. The rest of the players are equally up to the task although you'll find yourself desiring a bit more warmth.
The script, by an uncredited David Mamet, is nothing exceptional but his short repetitive style fits well in the mouths of the men without a past or future. The Nice streets and French countryside offer plenty to look at and provide a picturesque backdrop to the story.
Although it only runs two hours, the film seems long. The car chases are excessive and become tiresome after a while. Some of them could have been left on the cutting room floor to leave room for character development.
The end of the cold war resulted in a calmer world, but after seeing "Ronin", you are left to wonder how many of these loose cannons are running around out there. I suppose they'll find new masters in time. Let's hope that they end up working for the good guys…whoever the good guys are.
(Michael Redman has written this column for over 23 years and is currently soaking his feet after the Lotus Festival experience. Congratulations to all involved in one of the best events that Bloomington has to offer. Redman@indepen.com will probably get important electrons to him.)
[This appeared in the 10/1/98 "Bloomington Independent", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be contacted at Redman@indepen.com] -- mailto:redman@indepen.com This week's film review at http://www.indepen.com/ Film reviews archive at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Michael%20Redman
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