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Critics Consensus: Ronin earns comparisons to The French Connection with strong action, dynamic road chase scenes, and solid performances.
Critic Consensus: Ronin earns comparisons to The French Connection with strong action, dynamic road chase scenes, and solid performances.
All Critics (65) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (21) | DVD (9)
Not even supercool Robert De Niro can enliven this boring tale.
Clunky and contrived!
Ronin plays like death warmed over!
John Frankenheimer used to make real movies.
Run-of-the-Mill!
A cunning spy thriller!
Weaves a complex (and convoluted) tapestry of danger, betrayal, and a seemingly unending stream of car chases.
I wasn't prepared to be absolutely blown away by the storytelling, style, character work, and quiet cool that Ronin truly represents. This isn't just a solid late '90s spy thriller, it's a true entry in the espionage annals.
In a film that feels more European than American (except for the car chases), Frankenheimer works wonders on what was probably a relatively modest budget.
Frankenheimer engineers a breakneck ride through the European underworld.
Mamet was so upset by the Writers Guild's refusal to give him sole writing credit that he chose to be listed under a pseudonym; turns out he unwittingly made the right decision.
More fruitful by far to take the auteurist view and say that for Frankenheimer, Ronin is surrender.
I had been meaning to see this one for a few years, and am happy to say that I finally got this one crossed off my list. Co-written by David Mamet using a pseudonym and some obscure person named J.D. Zeik, this is basically the last great film from acclaimed director John Frankenheimer. What we have here is a slick international caper set in post Cold War Europe (mainly France) about a group of mercenaries from various intelligence and spec. ops. backgrounds who are called together to steal a mysterious briefcase with unknown (and unrevealed contents) that is wanted by both Irish terrorists and Russian gangsters. As for the basic plot, that's pretty much it. A bunch of hired guns come together to do a job, but, like all great thrillers, there's plenty of twists, turns, and intrigue. Okay, so the plot isn't original, but that's not where the film shines. It excels in delivering lots of suspense, tension, atmosphere, some good shootouts, and some excellent car chases. We get roughly four or so prolonged chases, and they are quite awesome, especially since they're done practically. Frankenheimer could have used visual effects, but opted for realism, and the results are great. Robert De Niro leads an all star cast, and he's awesome as the guy who basically becomes the leader of this little mission. He brings a great deal of experience and world weariness, and this is probably his last major role as a bad ass, though he did have a few great moments in Killer Elite. He's joined by the always cool Jean Reno, a scenery chewing Sean Bean, Stellan Skarsgard in a fun weaselly turn, and a menacing Jonathan Pryce. It's not a total sausage fest though. Natascha McElhone makes for a decent femme fatale, and even figure skater Katarina Witt shows up for a minor role. The film was almost 100% shot on location throughout France, and it looks great. We get awesome set pieces through a variety of locales, and the execution is marvelous. The action is tremendous, and there's plenty of it. The film does have some quieter moments, and I loved the fairly intelligent take on the caper elements, with how their mission is planned, etc. I wouldn't go so far as to call this a thinking man's action thriller, but it is somewhat smart and doesn't totally relying on playing to the lowest common denominator. I dug the crap out of this film, and I'd maybe rate it slightly higher, but, I do think it is somewhat uneven as far as the pacing (at times), and the basic story, as I previously mentioned, is kinda weak. Overall though, this is a terrific movie and I highly recommend you check it out.
Super Reviewer
A thrilling suspense/action film with some unexpected turns. A great cast.
A fun B-movie with one of the best car scene chases ever. Plot is lacking... but Robert De Niro is in it... He lifts this movie up. I loved the overall feel of this movie
An entertaining, though extremely convoluted and occasionally way too silly action yarn detailing a team of mercenaries (led by Robert De Niro) who must recover a briefcase filled with contents they no nothing about. The plot, as said, is way to complicated to keep up with, and the character development is pretty bad as well outside of De Niro, but this thing somehow, someway stays entertaining through a variety of breathtaking car chase sequences that match up against the best recorded in film. Sure, the chase sequences, like the movie as a whole, drift into silliness at more than one point, but the movie remains fun throughout. Think of it as a veteran's version "Eagle Eye", a film you kind of throw up your hands towards and go "it's....whatever man". If you turn your brain off and try to enjoy the action, you most likely will. But if you start to question the reality of, well, all of the film, then this thing has more holes than swiss cheese. So there you have it.
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