Project-Blu ‘Ronin’ Review, by Nate Boss

Ronin

By: Nate Boss, 3.1.2009

The Movie Itself:
 “In Feudal Japan, the warrior class of Samurai were sworn to protect their liege lords with their lives. Those Samurai whose liege was killed suffered a great shame, and they were forced to wander the land, looking for work as hired swords or bandits. These masterless warriors were no longer referred to as Samurai, they were known by another name: such men were called Ronin.”  

What defines a great action film? Star power? A solid, fast moving mix of action and character development, so that you care about those in the middle of the fracas? A great car chase? Deception and plot twists? Explosions and gunfire galore? If your definition of great action is even half of the above qualities, then Ronin may be the film for you.   

Robert De Niro stars in John Frankenheimer’s Ronin as Sam, a gun hired by Deidre (Natascha McElhone), to take part in a caper. Yes, a caper. Sam, along with a small group of other hired specialists are to ambush a group of Russians on the road, and take from them a box containing an undefined commodity that numerous underground agencies are after. When the job goes awry due to a traitor in the group, the team splits, with Sam and Vincent (Jean Reno) trying to decipher what happened, and whose allegiances lie where, while trying to right what went wrong, and prove their worth after the failed job left them both feeling dishonored.   

Is that a bit of an over-simplification of the plot? More than likely. The funny thing about Ronin is that it is a mixture of a smart, smart crime caper film, and a mindless action adventure. We the viewers are dropped into the film without lengthy introductions or backstories, as such, we know as much about the plan as do those picked out to perform it, which makes it a bit more interesting, as we have to figure out the twists and purpose, just like the characters. You have long set-up sequences for every equally long, if not longer action shot, which is where my comment about the intelligence of the film. The action parts of the film aren’t just thrown in randomly; they are plotted, they are methodical, they set up the character’s rationales and actions.   

The action shots themselves are works of freaking art. The prolonged car chases have to rank high up on any definitive “best of” list. The shoot out scenes are fun, but don’t overwhelm the rest of the action, as they really are just segues between bigger and better shots. Amazingly, for an action film with such strong scenes, Ronin’s true defining moments are midway through the film, after the betrayal, when Sam is shot in the stomach. We are shown a man who has obviously been down this path a few times, who looks at his situation with bravery rather than fear, who guides others along as he is being operated on. Even better, the contents of the box are NEVER divulged, which leaves an air of mystery.   

Does it sound like I’m going to be giving a perfect score based off my high praise? I’m not, really, I promise. As much as I personally enjoy Ronin, it does fall apart completely by the time the film hits the ice rink. The Seamus character (played by Jonathan Pryce) isn’t a good villain, especially by his lack of screen time, where the audience would have adapted to him, so when he is thrown into the role of the big baddy, the real drama level falls flat, as does the logic factor. I don’t want to give away the ending, but it makes absolutely no god damn sense, unless Vincent is a hitman who has possession of a teleportation device.  

Action fans should not hesitate any longer if they have not sat down for a mere two hours to partake in this film. De Niro is perfectly cast, and does a brilliant job with his role. Reno is his usual strong self, with Sean Bean giving a wonderful, if short, performance, and Stellan Skarsgard is very believable. This tale of honor, even among “thieves,” is one brilliant piece of work, even if it tailspins eventually.
Rating: 7/10

Jean Reno ‘bout to bust a cap

The Presentation:
Ronin has been a title dangled in front of the blu masses for some time now, with a few release date announcements that only led to more delays. With the title now in my hands, it is tough to put the video properties into words...it’s a bit like finally getting to rip the paper off a long teased Christmas present, seeing a brand new Nintendo video game system box and jumping for joy, only to open it up and discover the severed head of my childhood dog and a cache of unwashed garments from The Biggest Loser workouts.  

Ok, maybe it wasn’t so hard to put into words.

Ronin has a sampling of many detracting elements, which range in their severity. There are plenty of signs of artifacts being present in the picture, while backgrounds are alive with a thick smattering of grain that is somewhat of a negative factor in that it does curb detail levels significantly. From the start of the film, there is a lack of detail, with the picture looking a bit murky, with some unnatural looking shots that may have been a bit of edge enhancement (sometimes characters looked like they had some halos around them). Whites are: a) busy, b) noisy, c) ugly, or d) all of the above (the correct answer to describe the whites in the film is d). Blacks never look right, as at times I felt like they crushed, while others, especially the scenes through the binoculars, looked astonishingly, pitifully weak. There are occasional specks of dirt on the print, as well, mixed in with all the other noise in every shot. It is tougher to find a freeze frame of the film that doesn’t look blurred and muddy, than it is to guess what is in the box.

The audio definitely doesn’t share the problems that the video had. I mean, how could it? Since I don’t suffer from Synesthesia, I have no clue how rich or dull a bass sound LOOKS. Seriously, though, while it isn’t a perfect sound mix, MGM did do a fine job on the audio.  

I will admit, I had my moment of trepidation early, with the first moment of bass rumbling my speaker in that unpleasant way, but soon after, it became stronger and clearer, without the negative vibration. Surrounds use was very well done, though a wee bit lacking. In the opening scenes with the rain, it would have been fantastic to have the surrounds be a bit more present and active, or to have more atmosphere sounds enveloping me into the film experience, as they weren’t as active as I would have liked. There is no arguing, though, how good the audio sounds when the action takes off. I’m talking there’s gunshots flying from speaker to speaker, shells flying, shit coming from (and to) all angles. The first explosion in the film had a very strong low bass level that had me quite pleased. Dialog was fairly clear and discernible for me, thought it wasn’t exactly the sharpest I’ve heard.   

Then, there were the car chase scenes. This was my favorite part of this Blu-ray presentation, bar none. Cars whizz past you, side by side, back to front, with an amazingly powerful roar of an engine at times, or a zip as a vehicle flies past. There are amazing motion effects in use during these sequences. This is what sound design is all about.  
Rating: 5/10

De Niro, also ‘bout to bust a cap

The Extras:
The back of the package does not state that there are any extras, but after popping this disc in my player, lo and behold, there were two spots for extras on the menu, containing a Theatrical Trailer for the film, along with Trailers for other films, namely MGM properties The Usual Suspects, Walking Tall, and Out of Time (oh how I hope Walking Tall hits Blu-ray soon!).   

Editor’s note: Ronin is a curious case. The packaging is vintage Fox Blu-ray, with a very square back template with a picture of the menu, with a 2007 date displayed on the bottom of the package. The disc itself, though, has a 2008 date on it, while the disc was released in 2009. There has been numerous scheduled release dates for this title, so one has to wonder if this is a previously produced disc that got shelved.
Rating: 1/10

Overall:
The wait for this title may have made the video qualities (or lack thereof) criminal, but I cannot say that I’m not thankful to finally have Ronin on Blu-ray, flawed as it is. The film has a great air of mystery, with amazing action sequences and a fun story with amazingly high replay value. Hardcore fans of the film won’t hesitate in picking up this release, even though they will need to eventually upgrade it when a rerelease cleans it up.
Rating: 4/10