Rating: Summary: Best De Niro in some time! Review: This movie is incredible. If you like action, a well written screenplay, great acting and twists, buy it! You will not be disappointed! Jean Reno (The Professional) is a very strong contributor. Frankenheimer still has it.
Rating: Summary: Superior Review: One of the best. Watch it on DVD
Rating: Summary: They don't (or won't) make movies like this anymore... Review: Watching "Ronin," one becomes nostalgic for the days when directors used to take some actors and a crew and go someplace and MAKE A MOVIE. More and more these days, actors do their part on a green stage and everything else is done in post-production. Frankenheimer goes out and makes the movie. Anyone who has the DVD should take the time to listen to the full-length director's commentary. Some director's commentaries are drawn-out philosophical statements. Frankenheimer stays on the subject. He talks about how things were done and why choices were made in how scenes unfold and how the plot progresses. If you're the acknowledged best-director-of-car-chases-ever, it's hard not to repeat yourself. However, in the narrow streets of Nice and in the tunnels of Paris, Frankenheimer brings a new level of intensity to the genre. For those who find the pacing uneven, I'd point this out: cartoons have non-stop action; movies are SUPPOSED to have character and plot-line development. If it's a two-hour cartoon you want, go see "Phantom Menace" again.
Rating: Summary: A pretentious film about nothing Review: This is pretty aweful. The film tries (very unsuccessfully) to study "the reality" of assasins and former secret agents. It tries to convey how void of meaning the characters's lives are and how bored they are. But that is done at the cost of boring the audience.
Rating: Summary: A no nonsense tour de force for DeNiro Review: This movie makes perfect sense if you pay attention. The British guy at the beginning was a wanna be, and his character was used as a tool to emphasise the professionalism of the other characters. Lots of action, an interesting plot twist, great camera work and production - what more can I say than 'very cool'. Buy it - watch it - rewind it - watch it again.
Rating: Summary: A terrific action film with a great cast Review: I originally saw this film in theatres, and when I saw it on home video it lost some of its cinematic edge. So I must recommend: get the widescreen version. You won't be disappointed. This is as slick of an action film as there is. It definitely harkens back to the days of "Bullitt" and "The French Connection." De Niro is his usual terrific self, but the supporting cast is equally memorable. John Frankenheimer has fully compensated for "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (although no one could possibly save that Marlon Brando clunker) with a masterfully-directed film that boasts extraordinary action sequences. You can tell he's a veteran of his craft, and his pairing with De Niro is top-notch. The chase scenes are some of the greatest ever caught on film, and it's great to see De Niro kick some a** as an ex-CIA agent. Be careful with that rocket launcher, Bobby.
Rating: Summary: interesting but laughable Review: As usual, great direction and acting, but I found myself doing a lot of head scratching. Sure, the car chases were good,(even though the cars sounded like formula one racers), but c'mon, was the entire French police force out on summer vaction? What was the point of the english guy at the beginning of the film, besides having to rewind a few times to understand what the heck he was saying? The case that everyone is after eventually gets passed back and forth so much I thought I was watching a Marx Bros. movie. And DeNiros operation? I guess that fits in with the senseless violence theme of the film, and though I realize that's part of an action film, just as I told myself that to complete the nuttiness of this movie, why not have a sniper trained on Katerina Witt? And there is was! Gee Hollywood, can I have a job? I can randomly tear pages out of a script just as well as the next guy.
Rating: Summary: Great Action Review: The sceneries and the actions are excellent. Dont expect a great story line out of it. Robert DeNiro is great.
Rating: Summary: Exciting movie about professional guns for hire! Review: One of a kind movie. What makes it more special is that the movie all takes place in a european country, not in boring America (like all action movies before). I like the idea that all the professional guns for hire is not the young-muscular-schwazzenegger type, but rather old, slightly fat, but with proffesionalism, skill and experience type (beside De Niro, i especially love Jean Reno). AWESOME car chases, especially with cars such as BMW, AUDI, PEUGEOT, not boring amreican cars! A must see for those who wants to watch a great movie!
Rating: Summary: Excellent Review: There seems to be a lot of love/hate in the reviews of this film. Perhaps most of the hate comes from those who don't care for this particular genre, but do not yet realise it. The acting was very good. The directing was very good. It is diffucult to weave such complex plots together into a two hour film without giving the audience a feeling of being rushed about disorientingly. The realism takes a lot of time too, but these days it is one of the reasons many viewers go to see a film. This movie easily could have been 3 hours long if great care had been taken to make a movie that was more about people's lives. I also observe that some viewers that seem dissatisfied with the film probably do not know much about the kind of real-life things that this movie was based on. For illustrating this side of life, the movie deserves an A+. This stuff does happen and rather much like the manner portrayed in the movie. If you like Robert Denro or Reno, get this one.
|