Ronin (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Ronin |
| Country of production | United Kingdom , United States |
| original language | English , French , Russian |
| Publishing year | 1998 |
| length | 122 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | John Frankenheimer |
| script |
JD Zeik David Mamet |
| production | Frank Mancuso Jr. |
| music | Elia Cmíral |
| camera | Robert Fraisse |
| cut | Antony Gibbs |
| occupation | |
| |
Ronin is a 1998 action film directed by John Frankenheimer . Jean Reno , Natascha McElhone and Robert De Niro play the leading roles . The locations are Paris , Côte d'Azur and Provence .
The title refers to the homeless samurai of the same name in ancient Japan .
action
The American strategy specialist Sam receives an offer from the mysterious Irish woman Deirdre to steal a mysterious suitcase from a criminal organization in France. Together with the Irish terrorist Seamus O'Rourke, who is operating in the background, Deirdre has put together a team of experts, consisting of the French organizational talent Vincent, the German computer expert Gregor, the British weapons specialist Spence and the driver Larry. When they first meet, none of the team wants to reveal their background. Only Spence indicates to have served in the Special Air Service .
The first test almost goes wrong, as Spence overlooks an ambush while buying a gun and thus endangers the entire team when a shootout breaks out. But they manage to escape with the weapons and the money. At the following meeting, Sam drives the incompetent Spence off the team; he had only feigned his experience with a renowned British special unit. The rest of the team opts for an ambush planned by Sam to take down the strong guarding of the suitcase. During the preparations, Sam and Deirdre get closer.
With their heavy weapons, the team gradually eliminates the guards of the suitcase in a chase from La Turbie to the alleys of Nice . During a shootout it turns out that Gregor is working on his own account. He exchanges the suitcase and feigns an injury to flee. Sam realizes just in time that the wrong suitcase contains a bomb. The rest of the team has to flee empty-handed from the approaching police.
The team is now looking for Gregor. Meanwhile, he wants to sell the real suitcase to the Russian mafia , on whose behalf the ex- KGB agent works. Instead of sending money, mafioso Mikhi sends a killer to Gregor; however, this can turn it off.
Meanwhile, with the help of an old colleague, Sam has been able to locate Gregor on his mobile phone. When he made the second handover attempt in the amphitheater in Arles , there was a shooting. Sam saves Vincent's life, but is shot in the process. Meanwhile, the terrorist Seamus interferes actively in the action and brings Gregor under his power, where he kills Larry.
Vincent and Sam are forced to hijack a car in order to escape. Vincent brings the injured Sam to his friend Jean-Pierre's house. After Sam has taken care of his injuries and has recovered for a few days, Jean-Pierre helps the two of them to get back on track with the suitcase.
Sam and Vincent track down Seamus, Deirdre and Gregor in Paris. There is another chase through the streets and tunnels of Paris. After Seamus and Deirdre's car falls off a bridge, Gregor, who was also in the car, managed to escape again with the suitcase.
The hunt ultimately takes all parties to an ice skating stadium. Gregor has posted a sniper as security who is supposed to shoot Mikhi's lover Natacha if he doesn't answer. Mikhi sacrifices his lover, shoots Gregor and flees with the suitcase, while in the hall after Natacha's death, panic breaks out.
Seamus is waiting outside, disguised as a police officer. He shoots Mikhi, takes the suitcase and tries to escape. Meanwhile, Sam has found Deirdre waiting in the getaway car. He reveals that he was never interested in the money or the suitcase, but is still an active CIA agent who is supposed to put Seamus down. He convinces Deirdre to abandon Seamus and flee alone.
Just as Seamus has overwhelmed Sam, Vincent finally shoots Seamus in return for Sam.
Sam later waits in vain for Deirdre with Vincent in the café from the beginning of the film. Sam and Vincent say goodbye to each other in friendship without ever clarifying what was actually in the mysterious suitcase. BBC news can be heard in the background . It shows that a ceasefire was agreed between the British government and the Sinn Féin .
Alternative ending
In the theatrical version of the film, Deirdre is seen for the last time in the ice rink when she leaves it. There is an alternate ending on the DVD of the film in which she wants to meet Sam and Vincent in the café from the opening sequence. At the last moment she changes her mind and goes up the stairs. Just before she can get into her car, she is dragged into a van by men from the IRA, whom she calls a traitor. Sam and Vincent end their conversation and leave the cafe without realizing what happened to Deirdre.
background
subjects
In the film, a suitcase is used as a MacGuffin to move the plot forward.
The director John Frankenheimer had already shot the Formula 1 film Grand Prix and also directed the car stunt scenes (with up to 150 people in some cases) himself. Although it was already possible at the time of filming to use such car chases in films To recreate computer simulations, Frankenheimer, who always showed a particular weakness for realism in his films, renounced such tricks and showed authentic stunt scenes in Nice and Paris, even in those scenes that took place in narrow tunnels and alleys.
The multinational mercenary force at the center of the story includes former agents of the Western and Communist world as well as terrorists: Sam is a former CIA agent, Vincent presumably from the DGSE and Spence claimed to have been with the Special Air Service . One learns from Gregor, an East German, that he was trained by the KGB . The two contracting parties are the IRA and - so it can be assumed - the Russian mafia.
The film begins and ends in the same place in Paris, on the stairs of Rue Drevet . In the first scene Robert De Niro comes down the stairs, in the last scene she walks up Jean Reno.
Places and equipment
- Bar Montmartre in the opening scene with De Niro is the former Blue Sky restaurant on Rue des Trois Frères, Montmartre. The building has since been demolished.
- The gun purchase with the ensuing shooting takes place on the north side of the Pont Alexandre III .
- A total of eighty cars were destroyed during the shoot .
actor
- For the former figure skater Katarina Witt it was the first role in a major movie.
- Three of the actors have embodied James Bond opponents in their careers : Michael Lonsdale was Hugo Drax in Moonraker , Sean Bean Alec Trevelyan in Goldeneye and Jonathan Pryce Elliot Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies .
- Skipp Sudduth was at the wheel himself during the rapid chases, as he had asked John Frankenheimer several times to do so. Sudduth also did without a stunt driver in the Third Watch series .
- Porn actor Ron Jeremy made a brief appearance during the chase. This scene was cut out again in the final version because a preview audience laughed after they recognized him.
- During the filming in France, De Niro was arrested by the French police because he refused to go to an interrogation session about his relationship with a prostitute .
Awards
- Young Hollywood Award for Best Soundtrack
- The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.
Also nominated for the
- Golden Reel Award for the best sound
- MTV Movie Award for the best action scene
- Saturn Award for the best action / adventure / thriller film
Reviews
"At times, despite all the wildness and the attacks, frauds and chases, the film is so good that one wonders whether inspiration and depth are not overrated."
"Frankenheimer drives the intrigued story so quickly and convincingly through its individual, rather thin sections that he even turns Robert De Niro into an action hero."
“A classic thriller that is an homage to the films of the French director Jean-Pierre Melville and can boast three furious car chases as well as a squad of first-class actors. The plot is not always entirely logical and transparent, but overall the film offers exciting genre entertainment. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Ronin . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2004 (PDF; test number: 81 070 V / DVD).
- ↑ Porn star and documentary subject Ron Jeremy wants respect. ( Memento from August 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Ronin. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed January 23, 2013 .
Web links
- Ronin in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Ronin in the online film database
- Ronin atrotten tomatoes(English)
- Comparison of the cut versions cable 1 from 12 - FSK 16 by Ronin at Schnittberichte.com