Rent Ronin on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: J.D. Zeik (story), J.D. Zeik and David Mamet (screenplay)
Directed by: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård, Sean Bean, Jonathan Pryce
Rated: R
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Plot
A freelancing former U.S. Intelligence Agent tries to track down a mysterious package that is wanted by the Irish and the Russians.
Verdict
It's focused, avoiding a lot of the usual action movie tropes. The characters are all business and forgo unnecessary exposition. That makes this feel realistic, but the plot is so benign that the movie feels hollow. The goal is to get the suitcase, but we don't get to tie any emotion to it because we don't know what's inside or its ultimate purpose. That leaves just a few actions scenes to remember, though the chase scenes are great. This eschews fancy cars and focuses on the adrenaline of the chase.
Watch It.
Review
We get this mercenary team from various countries meeting up in a warehouse, gathered for an operation. It's very cloak and dagger. We don't know much about the job, but this provides great characterization in a short amount of time which gives needed depth to this heist about which we know so little.
The first step in this heist is weapons acquisition and that goes sideways. Spence (Sean Bean) was the lead and he seems out of his depth. That creates tension with Sam (Robert De Niro) who clearly has done this before. I began to wonder if Spence had overstated his credentials.
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| Jean Reno, Robert De Niro play Vincent, Sam |
Every scene is tense. We have tension between characters as they don't know if they can trust anyone else on this job that could easily kill them. The meetup for the guns is stressful as everyone is concerned it could be a setup. The movie does a great job of letting us know which characters can handle this heist and which ones are questionable without stating it outright.
The script is focused. Each scene is setting up the heist or developing the characters. We get to see prep for the heist and en route are surprises and a betrayal. What I like most about this is that it doesn't fall into big action set pieces, one liners, and villain monologues. All of these characters have a job to do and don't waste time. Even the car chases avoid flashiness which makes them feel realistic. The crew drives cars that are powerful enough to get the job done while still blending in.
The movie is renowned for the car chases, and they are really good. Bumper mounted cameras certainly add to the feeling of speed while the simplicity of the scenes counter the usual over the top feeling of Hollywood action movies.
The IRA and Russians are after this case. With the movie not telling us what's in the case, it makes it more intriguing. The problem with that is the goal is obtain the case and not what the case can do for the IRA. We need a defined goal, and if the focus of this heist was what the case could do for the IRA, that would give us a direct tie. This could present the IRA as good or bad within the framework of this movie and thus that would affect how we feel about this heist team. As it stands, this feels like a heist just for the sake of it. The results are not given any importance.
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