Review of Ronin (1998) by Sarah J — 13 Nov 2008

This thriller from veteren John Frankenheimer is pure excellence, the script, acting and action are top draw. De Niro and Reno are brilliant in this as of course you would expect from two such excellent actors.

The action scenes are pulse pounding and particularly excellent are the car chases, probably the best ever. Not only did the stunt guys risk their lives but the guys shooting the action captured some truly thrilling close up view from the cars as they speed along.

The action also carries a certain degree of realism to it, the shootouts are sensible and the car chases and crashes seem very genuine no massive corkscrewing threw the air like most car chases or cars jumping 100 feet in the air like in Gone in 60 seconds, which is all very good but not for this sort of thriller.

The pacing of the film was great and there was a constant chilling atmosphere. As I said before Robert De Niro and Jean Reno were exceptional particularly in their scenes together. The support cast are good too with a brief but excellent display from Sean Bean and Natasha Mchelhone and Jonathan Pryce are both good as Irish terrosists with comendable accents.

All in all a very god way to spend a few hours.