RONIN

• Starring Robert De Niro, Jean Reno and Natascha McElhone
• Directed by John Frankenheimer
• Rated R, with profanity and violence; running time 121 minutes
• With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a 9

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(Sept. 25, 1998) -- John Frankenheimer, the veteran filmmaker who made some of the most memorable thrillers of the 1960s and '70s, is back in top form in Ronin, a riveting, fast-paced spy film starring Robert De Niro.

Younger action fans who think the genre started with Die Hard will enjoy Ronin's frequent, flashy gun play, along with two of the most spectacular car chases ever filmed.

More experienced fans will love the film's darker nuances of character and entangled intrigue, which echo the "thinking person's" thrillers of an earlier time. In mood and style, Ronin is more like 1973's The Day of the Jackal than 1997's The Jackal.

The film's title is borrowed from feudal Japan. Ronin were samurai warriors whose masters had been killed and who wandered the land as swords for hire or bandits.

The 1998 ronin are spies and assassins cast adrift by the end of the Cold War. They've been hired by an unnamed but apparently Irish employer to acquire a certain briefcase from a rival team, identity also unknown.

The contents of the case remain a mystery. All they know is that their employer desperately needs it. In another age, the identity of allies and enemies mattered; now it's the job that matters.

The assembled operatives are led by Sam (De Niro), an American well-versed in weaponry and battle strategy. From the opening sequence, when he stashes a gun in an alley just in case he needs it in flight, Sam shows he knows how to take care of himself.

His team includes the French coordinator (Jean Reno), an English munitions expert (Sean Bean), an Eastern Bloc electronics specialist (Stellan Skarsgard), an American driver (Skipp Sudduth), and an Irish go-between (Natascha McElhone).

On the periphery of the action are a suspicious Irishman (Jonathan Pryce) and a quirky Frenchman who plays with toy soldiers (Michael Lonsdale, a memorable face from The Day of the Jackal).

In typical thriller fashion, the carefully executed plans of these latter-day ronin go awry in waves of betrayals and miscues.

Twice, those foul-ups lead to long, breathtaking, high-speed chases through the streets and tunnels of Paris. Both are worthy of comparison to the fabled chases of Bullitt and The French Connection. (Frankenheimer cut his racing teeth as director of Grand Prix in 1966.)

The script features a tightly spun narrative by J.D. Zeik and taut, enticing dialogue reportedly written by playwright David Mamet (under a "Richard Weisz" pseudonym).

Though Ronin moves too fast for much character development, the first-rate performances by De Niro and Reno suggest the world-weariness and dismay of talented, veteran spies in search of a purpose in life.

After all, they once fought in the shadows of their nations' flags. Now they simply chase a paycheck.