Ronin

"Anyone is an enemy for a price."

1998 2h 2m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

🍅

70%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★7.0TMDB · 2,809🍅70%Rotten Tomatoes●67Metacritic★7.2IMDB · 204,446

ActionThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A briefcase with undisclosed contents – sought by Irish terrorists and the Russian mob – makes its way into criminals' hands. An Irish liaison assembles a squad of mercenaries, or 'ronin', and gives them the thorny task of recovering the case.

“Anyone is an enemy for a price.”

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Cast

Robert De Niro
Sam
Jean Reno
Vincent
Natascha McElhone
Deirdre
Stellan Skarsgård
Gregor
Skipp Sudduth
Larry
Jonathan Pryce
Seamus O'Rourke
Sean Bean
Spence
Michael Lonsdale
Jean-Pierre

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Frankenheimer
Writers: J. D. Zeik, David Mamet, J. D. Zeik
Languages: English, French, Russian
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $55M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

28 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, French, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Frankenheimer, shot by Robert Fraisse. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Elia Cmiral. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Antony Gibbs shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Robert De Niro and Jean Reno and Natascha McElhone carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Frankenheimer directs. Robert Fraisse behind the camera. Elia Cmiral scores. Antony Gibbs cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English, French, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $55M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
228 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, French, Russian.
4International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
5Directed by John Frankenheimer, shot by Robert Fraisse. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Elia Cmiral. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Antony Gibbs shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Robert De Niro and Jean Reno and Natascha McElhone carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Anyone is an enemy for a price.".
10IMDB entry: tt0122690 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 14 themes, including "france", "paris, france", "arms deal", "mercenary".

The technical file

Cinematography: Robert Fraisse
Original score: Elia Cmiral
Editing: Antony Gibbs
Production design: Michael Z. Hanan
Costume design: May Routh
Makeup / hair: Jane Milon
Sound: Mike Le Mare
Stunt coordinator: Joe Dunne
Runtime: 122 min · 2h 2m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $55,000,000
Box office: $70,692,101
Return: 129% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Ronin (1998)
Rotten Tomatoes: 70% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 67/100
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 204,446 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 win & 4 nominations total

Also by

John Frankenheimer

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

The Movie Mob2022-08-19
★ 5/10
A little boring with a great car chase scene. Even though Ronin had shootouts, great chase sequences, and classic actors, I was bored and on my phone throughout the whole thing. Nothing was particularly bad about this film. There were actually great parts! But somehow, the sum of all its parts just equaled a movie that left me wanting. Releasing four years after Leon: The Professional, this could have been much better.
CinemaSerf2023-08-28
★ 7/10
It would not be fair to describe a "Ronin" as a rogue; more a mercenary without loyalty to any one particular person or cause. So, Natasha McElhone "Deirdre" hires a few of these to relieve a man of a suitcase that is bound for the Russians. What follows is as internecine a thriller as you will ever see. It's full of scheming and double-scheming with "Sam" (Robert De Niro) and "Vincent" (Jean Reno) never quite sure who is or is not on their team as the suitcase changes hands more times that the wonderfully elegant Katarina Witt changes her skates. Stellan Skarsgård; Sean Bean; Jonathan Pryce and Michael Lonsdale all help to keep them, and us, guessing pretty much right to the end. It does suffer a little from a preponderance of shoot outs that couldn't hit a barn door with a shovel; and the car chases do begin to get wearisome after a while, but over all John Frankenheimer manages to keep the quality of the action to a high enough standard to compensate. The dialogue is a bit basic, as are the characterisations - this has no depth nor underlying political agenda/statements - not the I could discern, anyway - it is just a good old fashioned thriller with a first rate cast who are unchallenged by their tasks - and therefore are perfectly plausible.
r96sk2025-06-03
★ 9/10
<em>'Ronin'</em> was somehow an unknown to me as of weeks ago. I say that because... what a cast! How have I at least not heard of this in passing in all my years on this Earth? That plus the type of plot makes this right up my alley, on paper I'd love it and, pleasantly, in reality I do too. The film is particularly excellent visually, the cinematography is quality and the stunts are outstanding; even little things, like the initial old movie-esque end credit font is nice to look at. The score is also a plus point, which is evidently one of many bits that this has going for it. Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård, Sean Bean, Jonathan Pryce, Michael Lonsdale... as already noted, this 1998 release features a stellar cast list. De Niro is the main ace of the pack here, though Reno and McElhone are especially worthy of note. I will say that the ending is less entertaining than anticipated, which is a surprise. It's not a disappointing conclusion whatsoever, I still liked it, but it did feel like a weird sorta drop-off from what proceeds in terms of pacing and all that. Again, not really much of an issue to be honest.