Ronin (1998)

Director: John Frankenheimer

Notable Cast: Robert DeNiro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgard, Sean Bean, Skipp Sudduth, Michael Lonsdale, Jan Triska, Jonathan Pryce

Director John Frankenheimer had a long and quite fascinating career. While he was mostly known for his work the 60s and 70s (with credits like The Manchurian Candidate and Birdman of Alcatraz under his belt) he would have a variety of hits and flops throughout his lengthy filmography that makes it one of the more interesting careers to follow. One of the gems of his career though is the 1998 throwback espionage action thriller Ronin, featuring a substantial cast anchored by Robert DeNiro. While it’s somewhat of a surprise that Arrow Video chose this film for release in their catalog because of its ‘newer’ release date, it shouldn’t be a surprise when one sees the film and the quality of its execution to understand why it’s become a well-loved cult classic. Not only is Ronin a phenomenal flick, but it’s one that truly does harken back to a 70s style of action film making where the tone and the subtle feel of the film highlights its strengths. Sure, it might have looked even better when it comes after the strange misfire that was The Island of Dr. Moreau in 1996, but the film has remarkably held up after nearly 20 years and it deserves the following it has garnered.

The Adventurers (2017)

Director: Stephen Fung

Notable Cast: Andy Lau, Shu Qi, Jean Reno, Zhang Jing-Chu, Tony Yang, Sha Yi, Eric Tsang

With the popularity of heist films still a thing, it’s not all that shocking that the Chinese film market would want to get in on it too as the Hollywood market seems to be doing quite well over there with the style. Marvel is doing it with their Ant-Man films, the Mission: Impossible series continues to draw in crowds, and the world-wide phenomenon that The Fast and the Furious franchise has become with its globetrotting action heist adventures only seems to generate more revenue as it goes. Thusly, we get a more Mission: Impossible inspired version of Once a Thief in The Adventurers, which sports Stephen Fung in multiple facets behind the camera along with a massively impressive cast to go with it including the critically acclaimed and box office draws of both The Everlasting Andy Lau and Shu Qi in tow. Like many of the western films mentioned above, The Adventurers sets its sights on big screen suave with its international settings, cast, and adventure that’s mostly carried by the sheer charisma of its cast. It’s not a film that will have critics swooning for a new franchise, but it’s a film that earns its merits by being fun and exciting in its execution if nothing else. The Adventurers sets out for high stakes international adventure and finds a massively entertaining film in the process.

Mission: Impossible (1996)

Director: Brian De Palma
Notable Cast: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Beart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames

The first "Mission: Impossible" film holds a pretty special balance in its wake. Although Tom Cruise might be bat shit crazy now with his hijinks, Scientology rants, and criticisms of morning hosts, it's films like "Mission: Impossible" that make his career the flavorful catalog it is. With all of the talent incorporated with this film version of the cheesy 60s and 70s television show, its not surprising that it's updated admirably and is one of the most memorable (and spoofed) films of the 90s.

Ethan Hunt (Cruise) works for a mysterious agency known as IMF. They track down and complete tasks considered practically impossible on a daily basis. When his team, lead by Jim Phelps (Voight) is basically slaughtered on a mission to recover a stolen list of secret agents called the NOC list, Hunt is blamed for being a mole in the organization. Hunt then goes rogue vows to uncover the true mole that slaughtered his team. He builds a new team of rogue agents (Rhames and Reno) to steal the real NOC list and uncover the dire deeds behind his accusation.

The balance of "Mission: Impossible" is truly what makes this film a fun and intense watch. It somehow balances the 60s and somewhat cheesy vibe of the original TV series and updates it adequately with modern style and technology into a spy film that fringes onto an action film more than once. Considering that at the time it started filming there wasn't even a finished script, the smart and quickly moving plot engages you 100% of the time and never really lets go until the final climax of a helicopter and train chase. Its in these regards with its fun dialogue, smartly cast group (we do love us some Voight at Blood Brothers here), cheesy but somehow effect plot, and great balances that "Mission: Impossible" works so well.

If there were any hiccups on this film, it would have to be its almost arrogant and over thought plot twists. Half the time the film is too smart for its own good and has trouble conveying its own surprises to the audiences. Half the time it has to use a fairly cheesy voice over to remind us what we should know and at other times it just rolls with its twists making the audience just go with it for the sake of pacing. The ending on the train with all of its unveiling and double agent 'oh hell no!' moments gets almost overwhelming for about 10 solid minutes and still to this day I wonder about some of the details of it. The script that was being worked on before filming started does show its problems in this regard, but overall it's pretty minute in comparison to the rest of the film's execution. Fortunately the film charms its way through those holes and having a great moment with Cruise on the front of a helicopter yelling "Red light! Green light!" smooths over my confusion nicely.

Although it may not always work out logically, "Mission: Impossible" does too many things right to criticize it too much. Its fun. Its intense. Its a great 90s ride of spy nostalgia and charm. It works for me.

BONUS RANT: Now, Emilio Estevez has a short role as the first IMF team's tech guy in the beginning of this film. I love his character and I love that actor. He is not in it enough. Period. The more Emilio, the better I say. If I thought that was a legit reason I would knock off half a star on this film for killing him. But alas, its not really legit. And it was nice to see him once more before his career fell off the face of the Earth. 

Written By Matt Reifschneider