Ronin
— All style and no substance - this beautiful looking film lacks the smarts to make it a classic.”

- Director: John Frankenheimer
- United States, 1998

Ronin is the sort of movie whose mere suggestion would provoke a Pavlov’s Dog reaction amongst most serious moviegoers. Beautifully shot on location in Paris and France Sud and featuring a multinational cast, it was a juicy prospect on its release. But while John Frankenheimer’s direction captures that certain je ne sais quoi of Gallic style and dazzles us with dizzying car chase camerawork, the film feels peculiarly empty.
Frankenheimer was a trailblazer whose career spanned fifty years before his death in 2002. His treatment of action sequences was renowned and in Ronin, a twisting tale of the twilight world shared by mercenary ex-spies, action is everything.
But it could have been so much more. The mix of talent on display here is exciting as it is eclectic: Sean Bean, Natasha McElhone, Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Stellan Skarsgård, Jonathan Pryce. De Niro and Reno rub along nicely together but occupy too much screen time, Bean is edgy and authentic but underused, McElhone simmers but is never allowed to boil and Pryce and Skarsgård have to disguise their scant and unappealing dialogue with impeccable accents.
See also:
Mean Streets
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The Good Shepherd
This dry history of a mystery man’s motivations hides its intelligence rather too well. ...
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Midnight Run
Novelty is always welcome and here’s a buddy cop road movie in which the protagonists hate each other! ...
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Inside Man
Spike Lee underscores the ancient truth that all black cops must be cool. ...
- Originally published: 29 Jan 2007 in Film
Who you gonna call?
Hello you, I'm Mike Padgett. I'm not the Princeton curator, the US senatorial candidate, the Kentuckian pastor or the journalist from Arizona. In fact, I work as a consultant in User Experience and Information Design.
I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.
I'm originally from Yorkshire, England but nowadays I live in Brussels, Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is Ellezelloise Hercule.





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