Ronin (1998)

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Overview

Ronin is an action-thriller, directed by John Frankenheimer and written by J.D. Zeik and David Mamet. The film stars Robert de Niro and Jean Reno as two former special forces agents, who team up to steal a mysterious suitcase.

Creation

When he began filming Ronin, director John Frankenheimer was at the tail end of his career. He had been making movies for over 40 years at this point, directing such critically acclaimed hits as The Manchurian Candidate, Birdman of Alcatraz and Seven Days of May. However, in the 90s, his career was in a spiral. After slowing down considerably in the 80s, he attempted to make his return to the big screen in 1996 with The Island of Dr. Moreau after directing a number of made-for-TV movies. The Island of Dr. Moreau was, however, unfamiliar territory for Frankenheimer. Usually directing social dramas, The Island of Dr. Moreau was a science fiction horror film, based on a H.G. Wells novel. The film bombed, panned by critics and audiences alike. Needless to say, Frankenheimer needed a return to form and he hoped to achieve that with Ronin.

Plot Summary

The film opens in a warehouse on the outskirts of Paris where Diedre (Natascha McElhone), an IRA member, is meeting with a team of former special forces and intelligence operatives. Diedre briefs the men on their mission - take down a heavily armored convoy and steal a briefcase, the contents of which are unknown. The team quickly learns the Russian mob is also after this briefcase and that they must act fast if they are to beat them to the convoy. The group then departs for Nice, France where they observe the convoy for a few days and formulate a plan of attack. The group executes the plan and is able to acquire the briefcase but is betrayed by a member of the team, Gregor (Stellan Skarsgard). Gregor takes the briefcase for himself and plans to sell it to the Russian mob. He contacts the mob's leader, Mikhi (Feodor Atkine) and threatens to sell the case to the IRA, which forces Mikhi to buy the briefcase from Gregor. Meanwhile, the team begins to track down Gregor, using one of Sam's (Robert de Niro) old CIA contacts. The team tracks him down to a Roman arena in Arles. Just when it seems that the team has him cornered, Seamus O'Rourke (Jonathan Pryce), Didre's handler, captures Gregor for himself and kills one of the members of the team, Larry (Skipp Sudduth).

Sam is wounded in the firefight with Gregor and Vincent (Jean Reno) takes him to a rural French village where his friend Jean-Pierre (Michael Lonsdale) can nurse him back to health. The three men then attempt to track down Gregor once again, finding out that he mailed the briefcase to himself. After a few days of waiting, the three ambush Gregor and Seamus after waiting out the post office for them. They follow the two back to their hideout where they find Diedre. Sam confronts her but is unable to kill her because of his feelings towards her. This leads to high speed chase through the streets of Paris that leads to Gregor once again escaping with the briefcase. After more investigating, Vincent and Sam find that the Russian mob is cooperating with a figure skater, Natacha Kirilova (Katarina Witt), who is also Mikhi's protege. Sam and Vincent head to the skating rink where they find Mikhi in the audience, watching Natacha perform. During the event, Mikhi goes backstage to meet with Gregor and exchange the money for the briefcase. After the money is exchanged, Gregor informs Mikhi that there is a sniper in the arena that will shoot Natacha if he betrays him. However, Mikhi shoots Gregor anyway, triggering the sniper to kill Natacha. Mikhi then attempts to escape the arena but not before being ambushed and shot by Seamus, who takes the briefcase. Sam runs after Seamus but instead finds Diedre in the getaway car. Sam urges Diedre to leave, revealing that he is a CIA officer, who is pursuing Seamus, not the briefcase. After seeing Sam, Seamus retreats back to the arena, shooting and wounding Vincent during a firefight. Sam chases after him before confronting him in a firefight where Sam is wounded. Just when it seems that Seamus is going to kill Sam, Vincent shoots and kills Seamus before collapsing from his wounds.

After Seamus' death, the IRA and Britain reach a peace agreement, ending the conflict. Sam and Vincent decide to go separate ways, with Sam leaving with his CIA contact and Vincent staying in Paris. The contents of the briefcase are never revealed.

Production

The biggest issue during the production was the animosity between writers J.D. Zeik and David Mamet. At the time, Zeik, a first time screen writer, claimed that Mamet's contributions were "minor", responsible only for the Diedre character and most of De Niro's scenes. Disappointed with having to share credit with Zeik, Mamet requested to be credited as "Richard Weisz". It was later revealed by director John Frankenheimer that the original story was formed by Zeik but the entire script was the written by Mamet. Frankenheimer was quoted saying, "We did not shoot a line of Zeik's script."

The film is perhaps most notable for its many car chases, including a very famous lengthy chase through the streets of Paris. Frankenheimer has always used cars and car chases as a prominent part of his films since his days as an amateur race car driver. In most films, car chases and other action scenes are shot by a second director unit but Frankenheimer elected to film all these sequences himself. He also refused to use any digital effects, instead filming all the chases live in order to capture the authenticity of the scenes. The sound department also recorded the sounds of the vehicles during the chases, in order to assure that the correct engine sounds were dubbed in during editing. Some of the actors even performed their own driving scenes with actor Skipp Sudduth doing all of his scenes. The cars used in the film were:

First Chase Scene:

• 1990 Peugeot 605 (three of them)
• 1995 Citroën Xantia
• 1995 Citroën XM
• 1976 Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9 (W116)
• 1998 Audi S8 4.2 quattro D2 (Typ 4D)

Second Chase Scene:

• 1996 Peugeot 406
• 1995 Citroën ZX (the police vehicle)
• 1991 BMW E34 535i
• 1995 BMW E34 M5

Two BMW’s were used during the second chase scene. Very few shots indicate an M5 actually being driven, for most of the chase a 535i model is shown with the M5 engine sound dubbed over it. The film's most famous car, however, was the 1998 Audi S8 quattro, which was fitted with a nitrous oxide power-booster. The car is regarded as one of the coolest movie cars of all-time.

In classic David Mamet form, the contents of the briefcase are never revealed in the film. Mamet felt that revealing the contents would seem anti-climatic and that a director should the audience's imagination answer some of the questions. In earlier versions of the script, the briefcase was destroyed all together. Frankheimer later said that Seamus is the only person who truly needs to know what was in the case. Also, when the film was in theaters, the film's website ran a poll allowing audiences to vote on what they believed was in the case. The most popular answer was a nuclear weapon initiator, which would explain why the Russians were interested in the case.

Critical Reception

Ronin was met with fairly positive critical reception and a huge commercial success, making almost $300 million at the box office. The film holds a rating of 68% on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 67 on Metacritic. Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying "I enjoyed the film on two levels: for its skill and its silliness." The Los Angeles Times called the film "a welcome throwback to the days when the world didn't have to end or tanker trucks explode to get the audience's attention". The film's car chases were perhaps the most praised aspect of the film, drawing comparisons to The French Connection and other classic heist movies. However, some critics, such as the Chicago Reader and Washington Post, called the film "boring" and "conventional". Others criticized the plot calling it "convoluted" and "far less interesting" then the action and car chase scenes.