Enter fall, the season of Oscar races and late last minute action movies. "Ronin" here qualifies as a late action movie.

      Departing from the traditional summer-istique style of lots of action leading up to even more action with a few strings of dialogue and clumsy directing thrown in, "Ronin" gives us a little glimmer of hope, a minor gesture of reassurance: the action genre isn’t dead just yet. Sure, we’ve got the whole "everything lost-nothing gained" situation again, but at least it was fun watching everything get lost.

      Six guys, all of different backgrounds, are thrown together to intercept an unknown suitcase from reaching a number of foreign destinations. What is in the suitcase is never entirely made clear to the audience, but, like "Pulp Fictions" own suitcase mystery, it is not a heavy detractor from the story. As they go about chasing the ever so mysterious suitcase, they run into the typical Darth Vader of movies, the Russians. Car chases, shootouts, and betrayals ensue as the gang attempts to capture the suitcase and keep track of who’s on who’s side.

      John Frankenheimer’s directing (his first since the ‘60s) is crisp and clear, and it is plain that this is a movie from a veteran director. The choice of location and setting for the movie is smart and realistic; the big car chases and shootouts don’t take place in dark empty fields, they’re in the wide open in the middle of the street, adding a touch of reality to the story. Frankenheimer also allows the dialogue and screenplay to bounce off the screen, with the right words assigned to the right characters. So often in action movies, the dialogue is cliché ridden, with the characters saying things so generalized that it doesn’t differentiate them from the rest of the players. Here, the screenplay is given with as much attention as the big explosions, and a strong cast headed off by the undoubtedly talented Robert DeNiro successfully gives the audience curiosity, intrigue, and suspense. By far, the car chase scenes are the best parts of the film; Frankenheimer insisted on using as little computer or camera tricks as possible. The result includes exciting and fascinating scenes of BMWs chasing one another on the supposedly serene streets of Paris. These scenes are interesting contributions to the plot, which in turn engages us even more.

      However, because of the fast paced plot and the many characters that die, leave, or betray the others, it is a bit hard to keep up with the action. Also because of the numerous characters, there is little room for character development so when someone dies or leaves, character sympathy is at a minimum. The only guy we sympathize with is DeNiro, and that’s partly because he’s the most recognizable man in the cast. Or maybe it’s because as the movie goes along, the plot seems to get ahead of itself and by the end of the movie, it’s strung together just barely. Even with the flaws, "Ronin" stands out as definitely one of the better movies in comparison to the lackluster summer action films. And this is an accomplishment in itself.

Tien Nguyen, 1998