Ronin = A term referred to ancient samurai who having committed some sort of offence, sell there souls to the highest bidder. Travelling the land doing the jobs no honourable man would dare to do.
No samurai here however, what you do have is five mercenaries in Paris 1998 out to achieve what ever it takes to earn money. The Mercenaries in this case consist of Sam, played very nicely by Robert De Niro; Sam is a man who knows rather a lot but pretends to know little, his story is very much secret till the middle of the movie. Vincent played by Leon actor Jean Reno, as usual he plays a pleasant enough chap, but cross him and it might just cost you your life. Spence (no not me!) portrayed here by the king of wood Sean Bean, an actor I seldom enjoy watching but he was easy to tolerate here. Gregor (Stellan Skarsgard) is the techno head, his role here is actually the dominating role of the movie in my opinion, good with everything technical he looks like a nerd but is he? And finally we have Larry played by Skipp Sudduth an actor who you probably won’t know by name but you’ll recognise him from other movies. Larry plays the most laid back role of the movie, only really bobbing up when needed.
These “Ronin” are gathered together by an Irish ringmaster called Dierdre (Natasha McElhone pronounced Maccleholme) in a seedy Paris café; the assignment to obtain a silver case, contents unknown. Once the movie has
started at in my opinion quite a slow pace, they move in for the kill with the case. At the moment of truth something goes wrong and it appears our heroes have been betrayed; from this moment on the movie transfers from snails pace to all out action. And for the next hour and twenty minutes it’s a proper fairground ride in terms of emotion.
Ronin contains arguably one of the largest chase scenes in movie history, taking in many of Paris’s top landmarks. This impressive piece of filming seems like nothing to watch until you start to think about the movie. Once you start thinking then you realise how long it must have taken to achieve such a scene. To get so many main popular roads I’d assume they were filming these scenes for weeks.
The plot, although initially seeming like it might be complicated is incredibly straightforward. As a result you may be pleased to here that you won’t have to have an incredibly serious head on to enjoy the film. Just a reasonably level headed one; ideal for a lazy Sunday, but not ideal for a lazy Sunday with a hangover.
Ronin is quite violent, but not graphically so. There is little consideration paid to anyone during the movie that might meet with a bullet accidentally or otherwise. The language is quite safe, no preponderance of bad language to offend just the odd swear word as and when required.
Is Ronin any good? Well it is, but its not one of those films that you’ll walk away going “that’s really good”. Its one of those movies that you realise is good but cant imagine why you have not watched it more often. Today’s viewing was the first time I’d seen the film since 1999. And I remember looking at my old DVD on many occasions thinking on whether to watch it or not. Unfortunately it took the definitive edition to make me see it again.
The Definitive Edition quotes “Experience the fast paced and furious action of Ronin like never before with this Definitive Edition that boasts the films best ever picture quality all with state of the art audio, exploiting the entire range of DVD sound! In addition some revealing Special Features will give you unparalleld access behind the scenes, making this Definitive Edition the ultimate in home cinema excitement!” Having now got a number of these Definitive Editions I can honestly say that Ronin is one of the best. The picture quality is as good as Blue Ray, it’s so much clearer than my original DVD edition that came out years back. As for the sound it’s almost like in places someone has put in a new level of audio. It’s so crisp and clear, like being at a really supped up cinema, obviously your sound system would need to reflect this. The box itself that the DVD’s come in is a nice Steelbook (a tin box), Ronin has one of the nicest covers, which is slightly different from others in the range. But I guess this should be reflected by the fact that with the exception of three from label MGM (now Sony) this one being included, the rest of the range are Fox titles. The box has director John Frankenheimers signature on it. One more point of interest is that the DVD features the new Anti-Piracy software which as yet nobody has been able to crack, so macrovision hacks won’t get passed this clever beastie.
Special Features
Alternate Ending – The final scenes of the movie are intercut with scenes of the demise of one of the characters that disappeared just slightly before the end of the movie. I far prefer this movie ending as it puts a far more menacing spin on the film.
In The Cutting Room With Tony Gibbs – Tony Gibbs a movie editor since his youth tells his story as an editor, working on the original Moulin Rouge up to the present day. He then goes on to explain about the editing of Ronin.
Natasha McElhone: An Actors Process – Natasha talks in detail about her casting in the movie and how initially being the least experienced actor she felt a bit out in the cold. She details how John Frankenheimer made that a thing of the past very quickly by putting her in a spotlight the very day. She talks frankly about how the movie ultimately changed her career.
Composing The Ronin Score – A look at the soundtrack, and how to find the right pitches during action scenes. Quite an interesting piece that again makes you think about the work that goes into a movie you often just think about as you watch it.
The Driving Of Ronin – A look at the two big car/gun battles during the movie, and a sort of special effects crash course on how to get things done, sometimes with a minimal budget.
Filming In The Fast Lane – Again a similar documentary as the last but a more in-depth look the actual filming. Showing camera rigs etc as they pursue the speeding cars.
Through The Lens – A look at how all the other parts of the movie were made. From the dialogue shots to fight scenes.
Venice Interviews – Mainly Robert De Niro talking about the movies production, working with the team especially John Frankenheimer. DeNiro seems quite uncomfortable in discussing the movie, an image which you often see when he discusses movies. Its nice to see that despite his hard acting talents he has a very sensitive reserved side too.
Ronin is available now from £9.99 play.com price, or £12 HMV high street price.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
I've got the original version, but this sounds a lot better.
brereton66 09.05.2007 14:16
Good review, one of my favourite films.
Tadders 09.05.2007 12:20
Sounds fairly good, but I'd struggle to watch it on a lazy Sunday given the usual obligatory hangover. Looks like koshka got there with the pedantic spelling thing before me!
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