Traditionally, when Japanese samurai warriors lost their masters, they became Roningai, or 'master-less' samurai. They roamed the countryside from thereon, offering their services for hire. These were dangerous warriors, but they operated under a strict code of honour. Once a samurai, always a samurai.
Jump forward to 1990s Europe and you're in the world of Ronin, where an assortment of later-day Roningai is brought together to carry out a bold and violent heist. The group includes Sam (Robert De Niro), Vincent (Jean Reno), Gregor (Stellan Skarsgard ) and several others, each possessing a particular skill needed to pull off the job. They and we never know for sure who is hiring them, who they are stealing from, what they are stealing, nor who is trying to stop them.
This is an excellent premise for a heist movie, and the plot twists are soon coming fast and furious, even though we're let in on so little of what's actually behind it all. It's like a roller coaster ride in the dark. We live with the same lack of information as Sam and the others, but at least Sam knows his own motivations. We are given precious little information to help us figure even this out. Kind of fun, and kind of frustrating at the same time.
John Frankenheimer took on this movie having already directed films for 40 years, building a strong reputation early in his career with The Birdman of Alcatraz and the original version of The Manchurian Candidate. With Ronin, Frankenheimer takes a minimalist approach to character development and lets the guns to do most of the talking. The action is intense and well executed. The violence is considerable, with plenty of good, bad and innocent folks gunned down or squished in car crashes.
It's exciting, but when the action is over, we're left wondering: what was the whole point? Even when the dust settles and the closing credits roll, we still don't know Sam or the others. The relationships between them never developed onscreen. We still remain in the dark. As a result, the skills of a strong cast have been largely wasted.
It’s impossible to condemn a film as technically competent as this one, especially when it has an international ‘dream team’ cast such as De Niro, Reno and Skarsgard. But why roll out such impressive talent when a bunch of stuntmen could have done almost as well? Ronin is a lost opportunity to do something really special.
Ronin is exciting and slick. It's a solid action movie. We'll never know why Frankenheimer didn't go the extra mile to make it more than that.
