Submitted by LoneWolfInCyberia t3_z6n7ep in movies

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Ronin in feudal Japan, referred to those samurai, who had either lost their master in battle or whose master had fallen into financial ruin or who had no longer the trust of their master. Quite often lonely drifters, they led a nomadic life.

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The 1998 movie starring Robert De Niro, deals with such a group, most of them former intelligence agents, operatives who had been rendered jobless after the end of the Cold War.

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So you have Sam(Robert De Niro) an ex CIA operative, Spence(Sean Bean) a weapons expert, Gregor( Stellan Skarsgard) a former KGB computer expert, Vincent(Jean Reno) an expert at procuring and Larry( Skip Sudduth), an expert driver. The group is bought together by a mysterious woman Deirdre( Natasha McEllhone) an IRA Agent, along with her contact **Seamus(Jonathan Pyrce).**Their mission is to retrieve a mysterious briefcase, that even the Russians are vying for, setting off a deadly cat and mouse game that begins in Paris, and goes all over Europe.

Ronin is one of these good ole fashioned action thrillers, that has it all- shootout scenes, car chases, double crossing, intrigue. The kind of action thriller, where you really are not sure who is who, as the group members keep getting outed one by one. You have people double crossing , only to be double crossed themselves. None of the characters are really heroic in the conventional sense, every one is out to get their share of the pie, and would do anything for it.

And the movie has some of the best car chases ever, would rather say 4 great ones, the first one is brilliantly shot, my favorite would be when Sam chases Deirdre through the streets of Paris, absolutely dizzying, especially the bit where they race through the tunnel at break neck speed.

Also the use of the suitcase here as a McGuffin, the entire movie revolves around it, but you really never know what it actually contains.

Robert De Niro getting away from his usual intense roles, is as great as ever in a totally action packed role. It helps that the movie has a solid supporting cast, whom you could always depend on, Sean Bean, Jean Reno, Stellan Skarsgard, while Jonathan Pryce. makes for an intriguing Seamus.

And Natasha McEllhone makes a smoking hot, gorgeous femme fatale, her icy blonde looks just adding up to it.

If you are looking for some good, ole fashioned action, with thrills, twists and turns, this is the movie to chill out with.

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Comments

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Quay-Z t1_iy2aogp wrote

I always felt so bad for Larry.

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jsakic99 t1_iy2c0mu wrote

You know a movie is good when a character has to perform surgery on themselves.

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Bloody-George t1_iy2c3k3 wrote

I remember Ronin was the first film I saw Sean Bean in. Excellent performance. I'll never forget the scene in which the team is planning an ambush and his character suggests placing people on either side of a street for an ambush on a passing car, and De Niro's character points out the obvious problem of friendly fire in the plan hahahaha The build-up, the tense silence, the metal cup on the small table. Everything in that scene was great.

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Elbynerual t1_iy2dex3 wrote

I've seen the movie multiple times and to this day I still think they did the longer chase scene without any permits or permission. It was done so well it legit looks like they are just going through everyday traffic and dodging the cops along the way.

I'm kidding, of course, but my point is it doesn't even look faked. Not even all the background traffic, which there is quite a lot of.

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DickieGreenleaf84 t1_iy2e5dz wrote

This is the movie that lead to me first hearing the word "macguffin".

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ze11ez t1_iy2ep2k wrote

actor 1 --"Ok... we got shootas here and shootas here, I'll tell you an old tri-"

actor 2--"Hey!" puts coffee down and erases the board."

actor 1-"waht's your problem?!?"

actor 2--"drawitagain. draw it again. Draw what you saw, Draw-It-Again!! Let's see two shooters. One here, One here shooters kill each other dead. OH MY where'd you learn that?"

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This is by far one of the funniest scenes in the movie and Deniro as always was impressive. There were a bunch of GREAT movie scenes, a ton of quotes, including when DeNiro was like "I wouldn't go in there if I were you" and Leon The Professional was like "we get paid to go in" LMAO.

This movie is one of THE greatest, the dialogue is genius

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ze11ez t1_iy2f8bb wrote

drawitagain. Draw it again, draw what you saw. DRAW. IT. AGAIN!!!

im pretty sure Deniro called him exfil LMAO i was pissing my pants. I think the line was "draw it again Mr. Ex-Fil draw what you saw" or something like that.

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HardlineMike t1_iy2o626 wrote

Only thing I've ever seen with Natascha McElhone in it I think. But she's great in it.

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Joel227 t1_iy2opa7 wrote

This film was perfect.

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donsanedrin t1_iy2qzmd wrote

This feels like a movie in which John Frankenheimer had specific ideas on the types of car scenes he wanted to make, David Mamet had a couple of really cool scenes of dialogue, Robert DeNiro wanted to make his own mysterious spy/mercenary character, and the rest they just made it up as they went along.

And it was good. Maybe not great, but it was good.

The first hour is pretty tight.

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ze11ez t1_iy2x2j1 wrote

I wish they let that character in the whole movie. Yes he’s bound to get the team killed, but he’s hilarious. Talking all that tough talk…… then vomits. Pure comedy

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BeardyDrummer t1_iy2ymv2 wrote

It's a superb film. Great cast, great script and fantastic cinematography/stunt work.

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MurielHorseflesh t1_iy31pya wrote

What makes me chuckle about that line is that De Niro says the town name completely wrong and Sean Bean’s character has such low knowledge of the place he doesn’t notice. The place is pronounced herrerfud, De Niro calls it Hear-a-fud.

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terry496 t1_iy38s3a wrote

Best chase scene on film. Quite a few memorable lines. Solid acting. EXCELLENT sound work, specifically during the car chases.

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BassWingerC-137 t1_iy3fpuz wrote

The original DVD has a ton of behind the scenes footage on it, only accessible via computer. Was for an on-line watch hosted by Frankenheimer circa 1999 or 2000. Was so damn cool to “watch” this online with the producer-director talking about it.

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mac_901 t1_iy3k3wm wrote

One of my favorite movies. I Google and looked everywhere to find what was in that case no luck. I think that was another reason why I watched it to find clues about the case

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Music_City_Madman t1_iy3kt3l wrote

This is a holiday movie in my house. There is a scene after the Nice heist that takes place during Christmas.

Fantastic movie, cast, story and cinematography.

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SteelyPaladan t1_iy3kucy wrote

Spoilers

I watched this 5 times before I realized DiNero is still in the CIA

"I didn't come for the case I came for your boss. I never left

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Exctmonk t1_iy3lr7w wrote

> ole fashioned

Ack, right in the age.

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terry496 t1_iy3mlpz wrote

Yes, because they're all so good. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that multiple cars in multiple scenes were piloted by an extremely small group of drivers. For example, (IIRC) the police vehicle and the mid-size truck were piloted by the same stunt specialist. It's all the same chase, just very well spliced together.

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theONE306 t1_iy3puwz wrote

This film was part of the spy movie resurgence of the 1990s. In a short time all these no-nonsense, globe trotting, hard boiled espionage thrillers came out. The Jackal, The Saint, Mission: Impossible, Patriot Games, Leon the Professional, The Peacemaker. It rarely gets talked about, but it was a great time to be a spy movie fan.

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PaddyFever t1_iy3pz2u wrote

I love a double cross inside a double cross. What a movie.

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adamlechamp t1_iy3ta02 wrote

One of my all time favourite movies and played a big part in me wanting to become a scriptwriter. I actually live quite close now to where one of the car chases took place and it still makes me smile to this day when I go past it.

I think my favourite line has to be when they go to do the arms deal in Paris:

"Just because we are buying guns, doesn't mean we didn't bring any"

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Komsomol t1_iy43hzz wrote

Ronin. One of the best spy/covert operations genre films for me. Would love more films like it.

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youwantmybiscuits t1_iy45u6e wrote

lol to this day i still fuck with people and ask them "whats the color of the boathouse at hereford?" lololol

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BopNiblets t1_iy49agd wrote

The bad Oirish accents are a bit distracting but totally worth it for the rest, the cars flying through the French city streets and countryside just hit different, no other car chases look the same to me since.

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bolshevik_rattlehead t1_iy4x3hz wrote

Same, when he says “don’t you see, I never left” it was like oh shit! And then the radio news report VO we hear about how the extremism Sinn Fein leader Seamus was just killed and opened the door for renewed peace talks, jeez how did I miss that?! The case was just his in, all he ever cares about was getting Seamus to expose himself so De Niro could kill him.

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bolshevik_rattlehead t1_iy4xg0g wrote

I love the world building in this film. Seemingly throwaway lines, like when the goon asks Vincent “where do I know you from?” and Vincent coldly responds “Vienna” really expand this universe. It’s a fascinating world the characters exist in, these black ops intelligence guys who, after the end of the Cold War, now have nothing left. Fascinating.

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donsanedrin t1_iy4ziuf wrote

I would love an anthology series. Completely use a different cast every season, with a different type of job, in a different part of the world.

The movie gave a sense that there's alot of these types of people out there, most are cold-hearted and psychopaths, but some are doing it to just get by. Some of them even make friendships.

"Why did you take this job?"

"My friend, I need the money."

Its almost like a subtle European version of Resevoir Dogs.

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