Ronin (1998)

A freelancing former U.S. Intelligence Agent tries to track down a mysterious package that is wanted by the Irish and the Russians.

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

J.D. Zeik (story), J.D. Zeik (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert De Niro	...	Sam
Jean Reno	...	Vincent
Natascha McElhone	...	Deirdre
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Gregor
Sean Bean	...	Spence
Skipp Sudduth	...	Larry
Michael Lonsdale	...	Jean-Pierre
Jan Tríska	...	Dapper Gent
Jonathan Pryce	...	Seamus O'Rourke
Ron Perkins	...	Man with the Newspaper
Féodor Atkine	...	Mikhi
Katarina Witt	...	Natacha Kirilova
Bernard Bloch	...	Sergi
Dominic Gugliametti	...	Clown Ice Skater
Alan Beckworth	...	Clown Ice Skater

Storyline

Ronin is the Japanese word used for Samurai without a master. In this case, the Ronin are outcast specialists of every kind, whose services are available to everyone - for money. Dierdre (undoubtedly from Ireland) hires several Ronin to form a team in order to retrieve an important suitcase from a man who is about to sell it to the Russians. After the mission has been completed successfully, the suitcase immediately gets switched by a member of the team who seems to work into his own pocket. The complex net of everyone tricking everyone begins to surface slowly, and deadly...

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Plot Keywords:

ronin | case | suitcase | russian | ex kgb | 

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Taglines:

How do you catch an enemy, When's he's your best friend

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and some language

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

UK France USA

Language:

English French Russian

Release Date:

25 September 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ронин

Filming Locations:

Allée François Aragon, Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Box Office

Budget:

$55,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,697,641, 27 September 1998, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$41,616,262

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$70,697,479

Company Credits

Production Co:

FGM Entertainment, United Artists, United Artists

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During one of the car chase sequences where Gregor (Stellan Skarsgård) is dictating directions to Sam (Robert De Niro) from a computer terminal, Avid film editing software, the software used to edit movies, is visible on the screen.

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Goofs

Shortly after the AudiS8 chases the CitroenXM through the fish market, both cars then go into a narrow street. There is a rear shot of the Audi going into the street where you can see camera equipment on the roof of the car. In the next outside shot of the car it has gone.

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Quotes

Spence: You think too hard.
Sam: Nobody ever told me that before.

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Alternate Versions

The print of the opening titles, starting "In Feudal Japan..." before the film title "Ronin" appears on-screen, on all UK DVD releases from the 11th October 2004 release does not have the original large font that exists on the original theatrical print and TV broadcasts. Instead it is much smaller and does not feel correct especially when one knows the movie and is not consistent with the font titles used throughout the film and the end credits. The 2000/2001 UK DVD MGM original 1 disc release, catalogue number 15745DVD (EAN 5050070000207) does oontain the correct font. All subsequent UK media releases do not contain the correct font (including the Definitive Edition in steelbook packaging!)

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Connections

Referenced in Mousetrap 2 (2014)

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Soundtracks

Time To Say Goodbye (Con te partirò)
Composed by Francesco Sartori
Lyrics by Lucio Quarantotto
English lyrics by Frank Peterson
Performed by Sarah Brightman featuring Andrea Bocelli
Courtesy of Angel Records
Under license from EMI Music Special Markets

User Reviews

Great action movie.

"Ronin" is an extremely well made film, and although is has some failures, still an enjoyable action movie.

Ronin is the Japanese word used for Samurai without a master. In this case, the Ronin are outcast specialists of every kind (De Niro, Reno, Skarsgård...), whose services are available to everyone - for money. Dierdre (McElhone) hires several Ronin to form a team in order to retrieve an important suitcase from a man who is about to sell it to the Russians. After the mission has been completed successfully, the suitcase immediately gets switched by a member of the team who seems to work into his own pocket. The complex net of everyone tricking everyone begins to surface slowly, and deadly...

It's an action movie, so let's talk about the action sequences, in which I think is what this movie focuses. The shootings are excellent, we always know where is everybody, and we can notice their strategy, instead of seeing a lot of man shooting themselves. Now, the car chases are the reason this movie will be remembered, because they are simply the best. When a friend told me it was the best car chase ever, I thought, "This guy haven't seeing "Bullit", but I was wrong, and he was right, the angle that they shoot the chase sequences, make that seem really dangerous, we always expect them to crash, it look so real.

The acting, as you expected from De Niro, Reno and Stellan Skarsgård, is really great, but De Niro deserves attention, he appears always safe about what he is doing, which strengthens the idea of him being so wise, and experienced. You can't find a single movie that De Niro is not good, the only movie that I thought he was just good is "Awakenings".

The plot is unbelievable sometimes, like when they are looking for a Russian, and when they see a poster announcing a presentation of Russian ballet, they deduce that they will find the bad guy in there (didn't they notice that is hard to find one man between 30.000 people, when they didn't even know how they look like?).

Verdict: It's a well made action/thriller with great action scenes, and equally great performances.