Mercenaries never get a good rep in the movies. They always come off as cold-hearted, inherently evil guys who enjoy killing people for money. Maybe they're not really so vile in reality, maybe they're the same flesh-and-blood people as everyone else. That's the angle "Ronin" takes with its story of modern day warriors just looking for a purpose for their existence.
The problem the huge blockbuster Hollywood films about international espionage, terrorism and other such things that will lead to double-crosses, shoot outs, explosions, and other forms of action is that they try too hard to create a convincing story. They just drop tons of meaningless details on us as if we could really follow them. This film takes just the opposite angle. It barely tells us anything, five minutes into the film and we're already in the middle of something. Its significance is unknown at the time, but it's pretty exciting because it doesn't try to dumb its story down.
We meet a group of international mercs who have been hired, apparently, by an Irish revolutionary lead by a stern woman named Diedre (Natashcha McElhone), who is as gruff as any of the men she has hired, but still has a sense of delicateness to her. Her team is the generic multi-pack of specialist mercs. There's Sam (Robert De Niro), an American with great detective and field skills who is probably ex-CIA. He uses tactics to further the group's mission that anyone could do, such as take a picture of the enemy and test his reflex skills without seeming remotely suspicious. De Niro is outstanding here, as if he's wanted to be in a role like this for years. Jean Reno co-stars as a French operative named Vincent, the Robin to Sam’s Batman. He’s not quite as cunning, but he learns fast and then applies his knowledge. Other members of the group include: Spence (Sean Bean) a cocky British merc; Larry (Skipp Sudduth) an American car and weapons specialist; and Gregor (Stellan Skarsgard), a Russian computer specialist whose brain is his best weapon.
The crew's mission is to retrieve a steel suitcase from a group of generic, well-armed villains who will be intent on stopping them. Sam constantly questions the contents of the case, but he never gets much in the way of answer. All we know is it's worth killing people over and thousands of dollars in compensation to the mercs if they can get it.
This plot setup might seem a little basic, but that's where the film throws us for a loop. What seems like such a simple task (well, if using computers to track the villains and lots of heavy artillery to slaughter carloads of them is considered simple) turns out to be quite complicated. We don't know what's in that case but its importance continues to escalate once the massive action scenes kick in showing the mercs attempts to nab it.
The action scenes are totally fantastic in all meanings of the word. Those scenes of car chases through narrow city streets while firing machineguns and blowing stuff up have become generic to the extreme over recent years, and yet they're captivating here. Even when the fruit cart is obvious and the precise driving at tremendously high speeds are Hollywood staples all the way.
Why do such cliches work here when they rarely do elsewhere? I can't answer that honestly, but I guess it's because there's a sense of old school roots here. Director John Frankenheimer is no stranger to action, in fact, he's one of the founding fathers of the genre. His direction makes for a sense of organized chaos, not just chaos as other directors might go for. There's a real sense of danger and reality here. Setting the film in the old narrow streets of Paris is a nice change of pace from the freeways of L.A. and the back alleys of New York.
But the story is not as simple as car chases, fisticuffs and shootouts. As intense as they are, the sense of mystery is just as compelling. Sam and Vincent stick together throughout their ordeal forming a friendship and a real trust for each other. They reveal what they've learned over the years and continue to demonstrate their excellent detective skills. They don't have access to a roomful of computers and high-tech gadgets, instead, they use common sense and gut instinct. Sometimes this takes them places, sometimes it nearly kills them.
In any case, the story is constantly evolving, revealing more and more about the nature of all the parties involved. Who's REALLY working for whom and what their goal is. The significance of the case continues to shape the story, not only in terms of the people who want it, but its simpler aspects such as where a duplicate could be bought and switched. It's this kind of basic logic that the film uses to show how clever it can be.
What's also unique is the film's use of selective scripting. David Mamet co-wrote the film under a pseudonym, and his scenes of dialogue and mood are quite obvious. I suspect he had much to do with the film's idiosyncratic and detailed moments between the action. The scene in which the title is explained, that is, of warriors in Feudal Japan whose masters were killed and then dishonored is a brilliant (although fairly obvious) allegory and a peaceful scene in an otherwise intense movie.
In the end, we realize that “Ronin” was never about the destination, but rather the journey. It’s an intense ride and yet displays such grace throughout all the mayhem. That’s not easy to pull off and it deserves accolades for it.
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