There's not much plot in John Frankenheimer's latest film, "Ronin," but who said that it needed any? This movie works on the strength of its action sequences alone, and only the simplest plot is needed to keep everything together.
Starring Robert DeNiro as Sam, a character who may or may not have worked for the CIA, the film follows a group of men and one woman who have been assembled to snatch a briefcase. No one really knows what is in the briefcase, and no one really knows who their employer is, but as long as they are all getting paid, everything is fine.
There are a few double crosses in the course of the movie, but essentially the plot consists of the group sabotaging motorcades, speeding through Parisian tunnels, knocking over fruit stands and disrupting tour groups. The action moves from Paris to Nice to Arles and back to Paris again. If nothing else, the film is a splendid travelogue of France.
DeNiro is strong as always in his two-dimensional role, and Jean Reno, playing a fellow member of the group, is also commanding and charismatic.
However, the real heart of the movie is the car chases. They are some of the best-filmed and choreographed in recent years. One chase finds the heroes driving against oncoming traffic for a good five minutes of screentime. Such sequences are just as exciting as anything is in "Armageddon," this summer's biggest action bonanza.
"Ronin" marks the return of a genre that has faded away in the post-Cold War nineties: the international-espionage crime thriller. The European backdrop, the connotations of conspiracy and the international spies all show up in this film. Perhaps "Ronin" will finally bring international-espionage films back.
