Five mercenaries are recruited to retrieve a briefcase for a young woman and her unknown employers.  Each brings to the table years worth of experience and expertise in different yet complimentary fields.  Ronin tells the tale of these 5 individuals as they plan and pull off the heist of this case, and the chaos that ensues following its change of ownership.  With few large explosions and a relatively low death count, Ronin may not seem like the usual action movie cliche and that's because it's far from it.

At first glance this movie would appear to be little more than an action film with an interesting setting and a mix of dark characters all with mysterious pasts.  However, Ronin has a ton to offer fans of the action genre.  Even though the characters have shadowy pasts and motives for being involved, they each are very well played.  With Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, and Sean Bean(who some may recall as Boromir or Sharpe), this movie has a great cast behind well thought out characters.  

Ronin also plays host to some of the best car chase scenes in recent memory, bested only by those of the Bourne Identity in my humble opinion.  They are not flashy or filled with flipping cars and fender-bender fuel tank explosions, but they are pulled off fantastically in the crowded streets of France.  The only real down side here is the lack of behind the scenes footage on the staging of these great sequences.

All together, this is a great movie for action/thriller fans that aren't afraid to enjoy the interplay of characters more than flashy gun fights and big explosions.  The dark and 'real' feel of the film adds weight to the characters and the plot, and leaves the audience with a feeling of how possible such a series of events actually is.  The DVD also comes with an interesting alternate ending.  I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a good, fast paced movie for a lazy Saturday night.