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dangerousturtle
Reviews
Ronin (1998)
Excellent film, highly recommended.
First of all, Ronin is NOT one of those non-stop gunfights and explosions kind of action movie. Anyone who expects such will likely be disappointed. That said, the movie works incredibly well without such an over-the-top Hollywood style.
As many of the previous comments have mentioned, (both of) the car chases are stunning. The same can be said for all of the gunfight scenes in the movie. Frankenheimer does a wonderful job of keeping the action gritty and real without straining credibility too much. In fact the entire film keeps plausibility high (with only a slight blip at the end).
However that alone does not make a good film. The script is well crafted and mostly stays away from conventions, keeping you guessing at each allegiance shift and plot twist. De Niro and company, especially Jean Reno, are first rate. Still, the most impressive bit is the way that the interaction between each of the characters (De Niro and Reno in particular) keeps the movie moving and suspenseful during the slower scenes.
I just watched Ronin for the second time and I suggest that anyone who liked it the first time should watch it again. Some of the lines that I didn't fully understand the first time around (ie. the scene between Reno's elderly friend and De Niro) became a lot clearer after I had viewed it once already. I also think that this is one of those rare films that actually gets better and seems more impressive the more you view it.
Le voyage à travers l'impossible (1904)
Interesting visuals, but a tacky-looking movie now.
I had to watch this movie for my film analysis class as a demonstration of mise-en-scene (the overall appearance of everything on scene). What stood out to me first was this movie's striking visuals (completely artificially constructed, I might add). These hand painted scenes were comical and clearly showed that the movie fictional (and not to be take too seriously). Also the loving care that went into making the film so personal, and so detailed. The second thing I noticed was how tacky the movie now looks. That may seem unfair, since this movie is a 'classic' (easily proved since no one would watch a movie from the 1920's that wasn't), nevertheless, it's true! The movie really looks terrible! That aside, the story seems laughable and the narration/sound are scratchy and hard to decipher. But again, what can i say: this is a 1920's picture. I'm sure that this was cutting edge, and downright jaw-dropping when it came out...but now...well, it's not the same. I'd only recommend The Impossible Voyage to movie buffs and nostalgic's.
7/10 (for being a 1920's movie and managing to be watchable at all).