Ronin

1998 Directed by John Frankenheimer

Your ally could become your enemy.

A briefcase with undisclosed contents – sought by Irish terrorists and the Russian mob – makes its way into criminals' hands. An Irish liaison assembles a squad of mercenaries, or 'ronin', and gives them the thorny task of recovering the case.

Robert De Niro Jean Reno Natascha McElhone Stellan Skarsgård Sean Bean Jonathan Pryce Skipp Sudduth Katarina Witt Michael Lonsdale Ron Perkins Féodor Atkine Daniel Breton Amidou Jan Tříska Bernard Bloch Léopoldine Serre Dominic Gugliametti Alan Beckworth Tolsty Gérard Moulévrier Lionel Vitrant Vincent Schmitt Julia Maraval Laurent Spielvogel Ron Jeremy Steve Suissa Katia Tchenko Dyna Gauzy Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux Show All…

Alternative Titles

로닌, Ронин, 冷血悍將

action adventure crime thriller

122 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by matt lynch ★★★★ 1

Mamet and Frankenheimer possessed by Melville is basically crack to a film-nerd sociopath in love with genre hyperspecificity like me.
Review by Sean Fennessey ★★★½ 12

This thing still whips.
Review by Justin Peterson ★★★½ 2

(The Average Joe’s Movie Club Cast)
Get ready for plenty of Deniro, Reno, backstabbing, and some badass car chases!
"Either you're part of the problem or you're part of the solution or you're just part of the landscape."
This film has a slick opening that explains how ronin back in feudal Japan were basically free agent samurai. But honestly other than a few elements that loosely tie into that title, this great action movie that reminded me of the Bourne franchise could have been named anything. Those tie-ins include how a Mission Impossible like team of free agents are hired to obtain a supposedly extremely valuable briefcase. Then later on, there is a safe house owned by a samurai model…
Review by Robert Franco 2

to those who have not been exposed to the high points of the genre (and to be clear, the said high points are high), action is generally regarded as an unsophisticated genre that is artistically bankrupt. this stereotype is a result of the ratio of how many bad action movies come out a year (many) compared to how many good action movies come out a year (few). this preconceived notion that action films are inherently bad makes it so that some are unable to realize that, when it’s good, action is fucking good.
ronin is a prime example films that exhibit the true artistry of action filmmaking. for instance, look at the figure skating scene. any given action filmmaking hack…
Review by Geoff T ★★★★ 4

A film I've had on my horizon for a good while, and now couldn't be a better time with the release of Arrow's superb-looking Blu-ray edition. John Frankenheimer's Ronin proves itself as a slickly made and gritty spy-thriller, that feels like a precursor to the more realistic and narrative-driven action films that would follow (notably the Bourne series).
Robert De Niro features here as a supposed ex-CIA agent named Sam who gets employed by IRA personnel Deirdre along with various other ex-operatives (or 'Ronin' or what have you), to carry out what initially seems like a pretty basic mission, to retrieve a mysterious silver briefcase that the Russian Mob have put a bid over. He finds himself paired with French…
Review by jack ★★★½

any film that can be summarised 'robert de niro with gun' is always an enjoyable watch
Review by DallasFrance ★★★½ 5

John Frankenheimer came out with some of the best thrillers of the sixties, but he also came out with some of the worst films of the nineties. The exception is said to be Ronin, a film known for its car chases and its De Niro-Reno-ness. It is indeed a solid film with wild car chases. It’s important, though, that you don’t just keep your eyes on the road during these chases. Watch when it cuts to De Niro driving. His I’m-super-constipated-and-my-arms-need-WD-40 steering is amazing.
Natascha McElhone is De Niro’s “love interest,” which means that-like the book store lady from Heat-she gets to kiss him a couple times and be a general source of consternation the rest of the time. What else can I say? It’s your basic deadly game of cat and mouse and suitcase and hundreds of pedestrians somehow jumping out of the way of a car going 120 mph on a sidewalk. BUCKLE UP.
Review by Duck ★★★½ 2

68/100

A robust and thoroughly entertaining thriller.
Ronin is mostly well shot and acted with a pretty great cast and some impressive action scenes. The two car chases stand out and are easily the highlights of the film. The action scenes and more slower tension building scenes are spaced out well, making it feel nicely paced.
What I didn’t really like was the music as most of the time it just didn’t work for me and sometimes when characters where shot, their bodies would have no sign of injuries making their reactions feel quite unnatural.
Overall it’s a fun time and I’d recommend it.
Thanks for reading :)
Review by Ian West ★★★★ 1

My dad really loved this when it came out and we used to rent Ronin quite frequently back in the day. Revisited it on Blu-ray with him tonight and it’s still pretty dang fun!
Review by Geoffrey Broomer ★★★★ 14

Other than a random mention, this barely acknowledges the holidays, so should it count as a festive film? ...When Sean Bean survives a movie, I consider it a Christmas miracle.
Nutmeg Toxic Shock 2020
Review by 20oldboy03 ★★★½ 2

Und täglich grüßt der MacGuffin.

Einblick in meine Gedankenwelt davor:
-stylish, stylish, stylish
-die Autoverfolgungsjagden
-Robert De Niro und Jean Reno harmonieren prächtig miteinander
-Natascha McElhone sieht zum - hier zensieren wir
-Stellan Skarsgård spielt einen Deutschen (?)
-Europa ist ein hammergeiles Actionsetting

Einblick in meine Gedankenwelt danach:
-John Frankenheimer versucht alles, und gegen die allgemeinen Gewohnheiten, die Protagonisten zu Erden, siehe Sean Bean - selbsternannter Waffenexperte - der bei der ersten Schießerei sich übergibt und generell in Drucksituationen in Schweißausbrüchen ausbricht.
-die Autoverfolgungsjagden bleiben der Hammer
-Robert De Niro und Jean Reno harmonieren wirklich prächtig miteinander
-hier bleibt die Zensierung
-Stellan Skarsgård spielt einen Deutschen (?)
-egal ob Marseille, Nizza, Paris, Zürich, Wien, Madrid, Berlin oder London, Europa bleibt ein hammergeiles Actionsetting
Review by Rafael Jovine ★★★★ 2

Its an almost bittersweet experience to watch what many see as the last cinematic hooray of a director who may have never reached the iconic pedestal, but whose work is hard to not like, or at least appreciate. John Frankenheimer had its ups and dowsn, and he was great on one specific genre but that didn't stop him to try out new things.
This time, in a sort of an uneven or not fully fleshed out way (imo), he tries to translate the lore and teachings of a ronin into a modern heist thriller featuring a still in-shape De Niro and Jean Reno as a former mercenary and gunman respectively, that gets caught in a treason when their employees betray…

Recent reviews

Review by ColdCageFiles ★★★½

I don’t think there is a De Niro film pre 2004 I could rate lower than 3 1/2 stars he’s my all time favourite. This film does everything I would want it to, great car chase scenes, some great shoot outs, I get enough out of the supporting cast. I love France and movies filmed there, that was a very enjoyable element of this film for me.
Review by civex

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Ronin
This is an action film redeemed from being merely "okay" by the performances of Robert De Niro and Jean Reno and by the car chases. They made it actually good.
This 1998 movie was directed by the able John Frankenheimer and stars De Niro, Reno, Katerina Witt, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgard, Sean Bean, Jonathan Pryce, and an international smorgasbord of others.
It's a story that's been done many times. A bunch of guys who don't know each other show up for a job nobody knows about to steal something that isn't identified. It stumbles a little out of the gate, as De Niro's character is suspicious of everybody and everything, and he's always right. Once we get established, however,…
Review by IslandUnto

Arrow Video
Review by CharlieFP ★★★½

Good cast, good car chases, good film.
Good saturday night fun init.
Review by amar_sall ★★★★

Superb Jean Reno & Robert DeNiro double act, superb cast, superb action and to this day I am still bitter this never got a sequel....this film still SLAPS.
Review by DarthWelles ★★★★

Frankenheimer goes out in a blaze of glory with shootouts and car chase European style. Action feels like a prototype for the Bourne series. Also the Mamet dialogue ain’t bad either.
Review by 🎞 ★★★

sean bean says swag
Review by aloneinthefront ★★★★

I wanted some good solid escapism and could have done a lot worse than returning to Ronin after a few years. A goose-chase action film revolving around a central MacGuffin, it gives an excellent ensemble cast a chance to have a lot of fun for the audience's pure entertainment. The car chases are gritty and superbly shot - indeed probably among the best ever caught on camera - and the film is well-served by a touching bromance between Robert De Niro and Jean Reno. Yes please.
Review by Clarisse ★★

What was in the case
Review by DamagedGod ★★★★½

I don´t like action movies that much, but I love this movie. That´s how good this movie is.
Review by zmatta ★★★

A weeb performs surgery on robert deniro
Review by gabilamenace

Prime