I always point to The Sixth Sense as the birthplace of the modern complex plot, mostly because it was so influential and commercially successful, but Ronin kind of paved the way for it a li'l bit... li'l bit over here! Sadly, we didn't watch it a second time to try and discern the motivations of the characters anew, but it is certainly deserving. To wax nostalgic for the era, Natascha McElhone was just coming off The Truman Show, and here she gets to play a tougher, more assertive role. In happier times, I used to work with a distant cousin of yours! Love you, grrl. She's the kind of person who was told her whole life, hey! You should become a model! Me, they kept telling hey! You should... whatever!
...where was I? Oh, right. The plot. I don't want to be one of those... I don't know what you call it, but there used to be a category for "meta-critics," which is apparently a critic that reviews the critics. To me, it feels like a Jesus fish that's trying to eat the non-religious fish that still exists on some cars. Life hack of the day: stay away from these people. But I did notice that most self-respecting critics always have to point out that this film has not just no plot, but "absolutely no plot." Of course, this didn't lead to a sudden flooding of the screenplay marketplace; you know, a bunch of newbies thinking to themselves "Hey, writing a screenplay is easy! You don't need a plot!" As those in the know know, Mr. Glengarry Glen Ross himself worked on the screenplay. That's right, David Mamet! Well, some writers get those kind of problems sometimes. It gets to a point where you have to write under an assumed name to get anything done, to try and recreate that feeling of just starting out in the biz, the excitement of that first paycheck, what have you. As for J. D. Zeik, well... I guess he or she just had the one story in them. My favourite and yours of his is, of course, "Pistol Whipped" because they use the same 'I' for both the Pistol and the Whipped! And, of course, the 'I' is actually a long gun! Yeesh.
But what is a plot? I mean, when you get right down to it. Well, the dictionary that I have access to says a plot is "a secret plan or scheme to accomplish some purpose, esp. a hostile, unlawful or evil purpose: e.g., a plot to overthrow the government." ...in theory, of course. Just theory. Please don't red-flag me again. For story or screenplay purposes, it's the plan, scheme or main story of a literary or dramatic work, as in a play, novel, or short story. See, "plot" is one of those context-fluid words that can be a noun, a verb... probably an adverb too. It can also mean to devise or develop a literary or dramatic plot. In the context of the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards, "plot" usually means something having to do with Queen Elizabeth, or something from that era worthy of a major critical award. You know, something an actor can really sink their teeth into and try to get an award for. Something you can read for your English class and try and get an A+ for. Sure, Ronin is perhaps the opposite of that. That there are car chases through parts of Europe not normally meant for car chases, due to the quietness of the neighborhoods and the close quarters of all the ancient buildings involved, well... that's just the gravy. There's a shootout that's almost as massive as the big one in 1995's Heat, so no one's going to say that Frankenheimer's just phoning it in.
So there's no plot here. Still, you do have to pay attention in spots when the cars slow down, and the rather large number of bullets stop flying for a second. The main plot seems to involve a very valuable suitcase. Dierdre (Natascha McElhone) tells a ragtag ad-hoc group of quietly menacing mercenaries that she wants them to try and intercept said suitcase for a certain third party, for an undisclosed but large sum of money. Not necessarily retirement money, per se, but about halfway there. The touch of Mamet is felt through the various short bits of eternal Fight Club-esque wisdom. You know, the first rule is there are no rules, and the second rule is "See Rule One." Something like that. I personally can't get enough of those. My Hollywood friend was a little shocked... (Spoiler Alert) They swore that every movie that Sean Bean is in, he gets killed. It's just implied here; he probably screws up later on, but he does get voted off the island, so to speak.
Hard to say where Ronin ultimately fits in to the short list of the various genres that it's trying for, but it does probably have the best freeway chase sequence in which a car's going the wrong way... sorry, Spoiler Alert. As for how close it comes to The Day of the Jackal, not close, but as with Munich, they got Mr. François Truffaut himself, Michael Lonsdale to play the opposite of his role in that one! For those who care, his hobby is busying himself with a miniature recreation of the damn-near mythic figures of the film's title. And yes, once De Niro's character is sufficiently healed... you know the drill, he gets hit with a bullet, but misses all vital organs, just hurt enough to be able to operate on himself, what have you... we're treated to a terse philosophical discussion about the meaning of it all. Slave, master, is there a difference? Don't we all serve somebody? Well, this was all just before Uber, Ebay, Etsy and Jeff Bezos, mind you, before modern life became one giant online flea market. I mean, what happens when you dedicate your whole life to a cause, but the cause turns out to be a big hoax like Scientology?
When I originally saw this in the theatre, it bothered me a little that we never did find out what was in that damn suitcase, or the one that got switched out with the original suitcase (Spoiler Alert), but the older you get, the less one questions these things. For example, 2008's Rocknrolla, there's a painting in it that everyone looks at, but we never see. I got that right away and didn't give it a second thought. As for the rest of Frankenheimer's oeuvre if you will, well... do they still show Dead Bang on TV a lot? Catchy title. For some reason, I would always catch this one shot of William Forsythe and Don Johnson where they're using that half-and-half lens: you know, one person in the background, one person up way too close. We started to watch Reindeer Games, but never got past Ben Affleck getting out of prison. Apparently, the opening scene with all the dead Santa Clauses wasn't enough of a grabber. But I think Ronin's going to be okay! It's a cable mainstay now.
***1/2
-so sayeth The Movie Hooligan
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