Ronin: Spy Movie Extraordinaire

Last week I had the most awesome conversation about one of my favorite movies of all time: 1998’s Ronin starring Bobby DeNiro and Jean Reno. I saw this film in theaters and first fell in love with it’s car chases (ranked 9th on Car and Driver’s best chases list). But over the years I have realized how this movie has convinced me this is what real Spy Work is all about.

So last week, a guy at work and I talked about the cars of Ronin (which I am not a real car guy, but I fake it pretty well), then we get into the accuracies of the spy stuff (even finding credence to most of the Paris chase). So I have two questions for GWC, 1) just how much of the movie can you buy realistically and 2) could a Peugot really stand a chance in these chases? My friends and Forza 3 seem to say no unless a generous amount of nitrous is applied.

I wish I had a more substantial contribution to the conversation, but here’s what I’ve got: I was underwhelmed by the movie when I saw it in the theater. But I recall it fondly. I keep meaning to watch it on cable, but never catch it at the beginning. One line has really stuck with me: I believe it was DeNiro: “If there’s a question, there is no question.”