RONIN is to all intents and purposes a highly intelligent thriller , or so it would seem on the surface . Unfortunately when you start to examine the plot and structure of the movie it starts to fall apart . These " Ronin " characters - Who are they ? Who employed them ? Where was the job advertised ? It`s never really revealed , perhaps just as well since it`d be impossible to explain how such a motley bunch can be taken seriously . Notice one of the characters is a Walter Mitty type but can get the group any type of gun they want , and is this Walter Mitty guy really necessary to the plot ? , he`s written out after 20 minutes and it`s difficult to understand why he was included by the final draft .
Let`s look at the plot . In his book STORY:THE PRINCIPLES OF SCREENWRITING Robert Mckee explained that when he was a script reader for Hollywood studios he`d only be sent two types of script neither of which really worked , one being an understructured real life type drama and an overstructured action thriller involving an object all the great powers want to get their hands on . RONIN certainly sums up the second type of script , the CIA , the Russians , the IRA and quite possibly the winter olympics commitee are after something that will change the world as we know it and it`s up to this group of hired guns to cross , double cross and triple cross one another to get their hands on it
RONIN could have turned out a complete mess and despite the movie never being as clever as it thinks it is neither does it become the complete debacle it could have become . My exceedingly high entertainment thresholds were met and then some more and much of it had to do with the cast . This movie hardly features DeNiro`s greatest performance but considering the complete rubbish he`s appeared in since the early 1990s he`s by no means bad and does manage to bring some moral charm to his character . Jean Reno and Stellan Skarsgard are two of the greatest actors Europe has produced in the last twenty years and it`s very interesting to see these fine actors in a high octane Hollywood thriller and British Equity is very well represented with Sean Bean and Jonathan Pryce
A highly effective and entertaining thriller which at times is over complicated and plot bare at the same time . Can you imagine the mess Jerry Brukheimer and Michael Bay would have made of this ?
