Ronin has been showing on cable here lately. Robert de Niro and Jean Reno slithering across the screen as agents with mysterious backgrounds all hired by the IRA to steal a metal case.
What’s in the case? Hell, we don’t know. Never find out. Just that a lot of people are after it. It’s a plot device, leave it alone.
The thing I love most about the film though is Natascha McElhone’s Irish accent. Now I’m not denying its authenticity – her mother was Irish, she should have had a fair idea what an Irish accent sounded like.
But when I hear: “I need you to steal a kiss.”
I always do a double-take. Did she say she wanted these heavies to steal a “kiss”? All through the movie she’s talking about “the kiss” this and “the kiss” that. I find it hard to concentrate.
The car chases are pretty good, though; and more realistic than many American TV/film car chases. You know – where the hero in his red 2007 Ferrari F430 Spider, capable of over 300kmh, somehow cannot shake the bad guys in the black 1963 VW Beetle.
The most improbable thing about the film though is near the end. Bad guy number two, who double-crossed the good guys, has a sniper set up at an ice skating show. He warns the good guys that, unless he calls in at specific times, the sniper will shoot the ice ballerina.
Things go awry and the sniper shoots the ballerina girl. The audience panics and everyone charges – in orderly fashion – for the exits. Which is a very American reaction, I think.
After the Cold War, I reckon if a Berlin audience heard a rifle shot and the lead skater hits the ice in a pool of blood, they’d probably think it was just a very harsh review. In fact, I’d be surprised if they didn’t applaud.
We discover during the film that Ronin is a Japanese term referring to Samurai who have lost their master: Warriors without direction. And in the end we discover that Robert de Niro’s character doesn’t fit the title. He’s still with the CIA and has been all along.
He recovers the “kiss”, then goes home, retires, and spends the rest of his days being mean to Ben Stiller.
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