Ronin (film)

Five ronins are hired for the capture operation. The group gathers through an intermediary in Paris . No one in the group knows the whole truth about the employer and the objectives of the operation. All that is declared is necessary to take possession of a certain case , which is carefully guarded, and which they are going to sell to competitors. The operation should be carried out quickly, since buyers are already at the stage of negotiations with sellers. Formally, everyone in the group has their own specialization: Vincent - provides equipment and cars, Spence - a specialist in weapons, Gregor - a specialist in computers and surveillance, Larry - a professional driver. Deidra is the team leader. At first, Sam ( Robert De Niro ) did not fit into this distribution of responsibilities. He appeared in the group last, as if "jumped into the last carriage." However, he very quickly gains respect from the members of the group with his high professionalism. Sam becomes an informal leader. There are constantly conflicts between Sam and Deidra related to the operation. The main question that interests Sam: "Who is the employer?"

In the process of preparing the operation, it was necessary to get weapons. The operation did not go as planned. Sellers decided to trick buyers and ambushed. Sam was able to recognize the ambush in advance and saved from the death of Vincent and Spence. Moving away from the chase, Larry for the first time in the course of the plot demonstrated his professionalism.

Meanwhile, the customer of the operation, Shimas, tells Deirdre that the operation must already be started, despite the group’s unavailability. The planning of the operation led to a conflict between Sam and Spence. Sam accused Spence of unprofessionalism and managed to disarm Spence in a short fight, although he himself had no weapons. As a result, Spence received compensation from Deirdre and was forced to leave. At the same time, Sam demands an increase in the fee to $ 100 thousand for each member of the group, as customers keep the contents of the case secret. Deidra was forced to agree, having previously agreed upon this by telephone.

The action is transferred to Nice - the location of the case. In anticipation of a convenient moment, Sam goes out twice for reconnaissance. Both times Deidra accompanies him. Deidra's sympathy for Sam becomes apparent.

The day of surgery is coming. As a result, all the guards were killed, all escort vehicles were blown up, and the case was stolen. Gregor betrays the group and kidnaps him, tossing a fake suitcase with a bomb inside.

The group faces the need to find a case at all costs. But now the task is complicated by the fact that mysterious Russians are also included in the hunt for “goods”. In search of Gregor, Sam turned to his former colleague. Gregor was tracked by his cell phone. The group moves to Arles . The search for Gregor led the heroes into the ruins of the Arles amphitheater . There, in the presence of many tourists, a dramatic chase is played out, during which several people from the “ Russian mafia ”, who also searched for a case and came to meet with Gregor, die. The result of the operation is again disappointing: Sam gets a bullet in the side, Shimas kills Larry, Gregor falls into the hands of Shimas. Together with Deirdre, Shimas throws Sam and Vincent on the "battlefield."

Now, a couple of former agents have a task to survive. Vincent takes Sam to his friend Jean-Pierre. There, Sam performs an operation to remove a bullet from his own body. He is helped by Vincent, who extracts the bullet. During a visit to Jean-Pierre, Sam draws attention to his hobby - a military-historical miniature , and he tells Sam the story of “ 47 Samurai ”.

Meanwhile, Shimas forces Gregor to give the case, however, for this you need to receive a parcel in the mail. And Sam and Vincent are looking for customers who betrayed them. Finding them in Paris , they attempt to capture the case, but the Irish are hiding in a car. The car of Deidra and Shimas rolled over. Gregor took advantage of the situation and disappeared with a case. Deidra and Shimasa barely have time to pull the ripened road workers out of the car before the explosion. Vincent and Sam were left with nothing again.

Now you can call Sam and Vincent friends: between them there was trust and mutual understanding, which seems doubly valuable, given the specifics of their work. The heroes decide to change the object of the search: they decide that it is not Gregor and the Irish who need to search, but the buyers from whom their goods “left”. They begin to look for members of the " Russian mafia ."

The leader of the Russian mafia protects the Russian figure skater Natasha Kirillova ( Katarina Witt ). It was on the ice show with her participation that Sam and Vincent find both Gregor and Shimas. Gregor never succeeds in agreeing with the Russians and they kill him. Gregor’s unknown partner kills Natasha Kirillova. Shimas kills Russians and captures the case. Sam finds Deirdre and tells her the truth. It turns out that he is not a former, but a real CIA agent , and he is not hunting for a case, but for Shimas. Deirdre is leaving. Shimas is trying to hide, injuring both Vincent and Sam. As a result of the chase, an Irish terrorist is killed. But even at the end, the viewer will never know what was in the precious case, since Sam jokingly answers the question of Vincent: “I don’t remember.” However, in the upcoming news, it is said that some circumstances led to the armistice of the IRA (the Irish Republican Army, an organization fighting political and armed methods to free Northern Ireland from the British protectorate) with a crown. Sam and Vincent break up friends.

The meeting place for the heroes at the beginning of the film was a cafe (48 ° 53'06.3 "N 2 ° 20'25.5" E, in 2018 it was demolished) at the bottom of the stairs from the Montmartre hill in Paris . The staircase itself begins at the intersection of Bert and Dreve streets to Troyes Frere. The scene of the main scene (43 ° 44'43.6 "N 7 ° 23'60.0" E) with shooting on the street was the town of La Turbie of the province of Provence in France .

The film in 1999 received three nominations and one prize: Young Hollywood Awards / Young Hollywood for the best musical theme for the film ( Best soundtrack ).

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• Pomerance, Murray & Palmer, R. Barton, eds. (2011), A Little Solitaire: John Frankenheimer and American Film , United States: Rutgers University Press , ISBN 978-0-8135-5059-6 , < https://books.google.com.ph/books/about/A_Little_Solitaire .html? id = WIKP-d-xcYsC & redir_esc = y >  

• Ebert R. Ronin // Chicago Sun-Times