Ronin Trailer

Ronin is a 1998 action-thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and written by J.D. Zeik and David Mamet. It stars Robert De Niro and Jean Reno as two of several former special forces and intelligence agents who team up to steal a mysterious, heavily guarded suitcase while navigating a maze of shifting loyalties and alliances. The film is noted for its car chases through Nice and Paris.

Plot:

In a warehouse on the outskirts of Paris, Deirdre (Natascha McElhone), a young Irish woman who is a member of the Provisional IRA army council, meets with former special forces soldiers and intelligence operatives—Spence (Sean Bean), Larry (Skipp Sudduth), Gregor (Stellan Skarsgård), Vincent (Jean Reno), and Sam (Robert De Niro). Deirdre briefs the men on their mission, attacking a heavily armed convoy and stealing a briefcase, its contents unknown. Following the briefing, the team begins assembling their equipment, and Deirdre meets with her handler, Seamus O'Rourke (Jonathan Pryce), who reveals that Russian gangsters are bidding for the case so the team must act quickly to intercept it. Later, Spence is exposed as a fraud and summarily released from the team. The others depart for Nice where, over several days, they observe the convoy and form an ambush plan. The team ambushes the convoy and pursues the survivors through the surrounding countryside. After a lengthy car chase and gun battle, Gregor steals the case, tries to kill the team, and disappears.

Ronin is the Japanese word used for Samurai without a master. In this case, the Ronin are outcast specialists of every kind, whose services are available to everyone - for money. Dierdre (undoubtedly from Ireland) hires several Ronin to form a team in order to retrieve an important suitcase from a man who is about to sell it to the Russians. After the mission has been completed successfully, the suitcase immediately gets switched by a member of the team who seems to work into his own pocket. The complex net of everyone tricking everyone begins to surface slowly, and deadly...,

Alternate Ending:

In the commercial version of the film, Deirdre is last seen leaving the arena, her future uncertain. In an alternative ending on the DVD, she is seen on the stairs next to the café, apparently considering joining Sam and Vincent, but she does not and walks up the stairs. As she gets into her car, she is snatched into a van by men in the IRA who call her a traitor. Sam and Vincent finish their conversation and depart, unaware of what has just happened to Deirdre.