Ronin

Rating: ** 1/2
Date Seen: 1998-09-25

This movie comes so close to being excellent that I have to wonder whether some key scenes were left on the cutting room floor to keep it from running too long. At the end of almost every scene, I was left wondering, "So what the hell was that about?" There are a slew of car chases and gun fights (very well sequenced), but trying to keep up with who is chasing who over what had me completely lost midway through the movie.

Despite my confusion, this is not one of Hollywood's standby mindless action-packed storyless throwaways. Rather, the story takes so many twists and so many characters come in and out with little or no explanation of their apparently important roles, that I always felt like I was trying to play catchup, but the narrative moved on without elaborating. To top off the madness, the characters periodicly switch languages and we have to follow the subtitles. (This is not without narrative purpose, but it does place an extra burden on an already bewildered audience.)

What did I like about this movie? Despite what I said above, the plot was engaging and did keep me guessing. Paris, France: five men and a woman who have apparently never met identify each other through secret gestures and pass phrases and assemble for some sort of mission. The woman (Natascha McElhone), who identifies herself only as Dierdre, is obviously in charge, and acting on the behalf of some organization. The men are being paid to steal a metal case from a convoy of well-armed men who are travelling across France by car. Sam (Robert DeNiro) attempts to get more details on the symmantecs and purpose of this mission, but Dierdre refuses to answer any inquiries about who they are taking it from, who they are working for, or what is in the box.

What follows are some of the best filmed car chases I've seen in a while, along with some pretty good suspense. Robert De Niro's acting was top-notch, and while I'm still trying to piece together many of the elements of the under-explained plot, the ending was good. (I won't give it away.)

The cinematography was excellent throughout the movie, giving us a lot of good shots of the French cities and countryside without distracting from the story. I think I'll have to see this one again sometime and maybe I'll understand it better with foreknowledge of what happens.