History Film / Ronin

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->'''Jean-Pierre:''' The warrior code, the delight in the battle, you understand that, yes? But also something more. You understand there is something outside yourself that has to be served. And when that need is gone--when belief has died--what are you? A man without a master?\\
'''Sam:''' Right now, I'm a man without a paycheck.

In the aftermath of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, many secret agents felt unnecessary or redundant. Even if the world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, the way they worked just didn't seem to apply anymore. This 1998 film deals with some of these people, who are compared to {{Ronin}}, the unemployed {{Samurai}} of old Japan.

The plot centers around some mercenaries hired to steal [[MacGuffin a metal suitcase]], and the deals and double crosses to get whatever is inside it. Apparently it is valuable enough to cause lots of shootouts and car chases.

Directed by Creator/JohnFrankenheimer, the film has Creator/RobertDeNiro heading a cast of notable character actors, such as Creator/JeanReno, Creator/SeanBean, Creator/NataschaMcElhone, Creator/JonathanPryce, Creator/StellanSkarsgard, and Creator/MichaelLonsdale. The finished film was partially or completely written by Creator/DavidMamet depending on who you ask (original and credited screenwriter [=J.D.=] Zeik and others close to the production say Mamet only did some fleshing out of [=DeNiro=]'s character, while Frankenheimer says the script is all Mamet).

----
!! ''Ronin'' contains examples of:
* ActionGirl: Deirdre, who is heavily involved in the firefight in Nice, then hurling the BMW M5 around the streets of Paris.
* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: The scene between Sam and Jean-Pierre.
* TheAllegedExpert: Spence is supposedly a former [=SAS=] trooper turned mercenary. He's actually [[PhonyVeteran a fraud]].
* AnAsskickingChristmas: The movie is set sometime around Christmas.
* ArcWords: The film contains numerous variations of "I don't remember," and "Do I know you?" with different characters revealing a lot about themselves in what they choose to remember or admit to knowing. This running theme is remarked upon by Vincent [[spoiler:at the end of the film: "No questions... no answers."]]
* BadassDriver: Larry, [[spoiler:Vincent, Sam and Deirdre]] in movie and the various stunt drivers. In the words of the Director about the driver who raced through Paris and did the four-wheel drifts in the first chase: "That Audi was not built to do that."
* BaitTheDog: [[spoiler: Mikhi can't be such a bad guy when he's so nice to his girlfriend, right? Wrong, he lets her die over refusing to pay Gregor some money.]]
* BastardBoyfriend: [[spoiler:Mikhi is perfectly willing to let Natascha die.]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The case is recovered and Seamus is eliminated, allowing peace between the IRA and the British to go forward. (The contents of the case are never revealed, but it is implied to be a decoy used to lure out Seamus, anyways) Sam and Vincent part as friends, with Sam likely keeping Vincent as a contact to utilize in the future, so this isn't goodbye for either of them. But Sam DidNotGetTheGirl and a lot of people are dead by the end.]]
* BlackmailBackfire[=/=]ThreatBackfire: Gregor threatens to kill Natacha if he is not paid for the case by the end of his countdown. The Russians wait until he is at "one" on his countdown to raise their guns and show her they give exactly zero shits about her life, if they can get the case.
* BluffTheImpostor: When Sam suspects one of his colleagues isn't telling the truth about his background, he tests him with questions like [[spoiler: "What's the colour of the boathouse at Hereford?" Sam doesn't know either, but he knows that a real SAS veteran wouldn't have been so flustered by the question that Sam could get the drop on him.]]
* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: With the old "paper underneath the real bills" trick.
* TheCameo:
** Olympic figure skater Katarina Witt as skater Natacha Kirilova.
** Porn star Ron Jeremy in a DeletedScene (cut because a lot of people in previews knew who he was, and it was too jarring).
** Creator/MichaelLonsdale appears as a colleague of Reno's [[spoiler: who helps with Sam's surgery after a shoot-out]], and who happens to be a fan of UsefulNotes/The47Ronin legend.
* {{The Caper}}: The first part of the movie.
* ChaseScene: The car chases are some of the most praised by action buffs.
* ChekhovsGun: A coffee cup. Twice, as in another scene the same cup is used yet again, this time to reveal a ChekhovsSkill.
* ColdSniper:
** The female unnamed sniper working with Gregor shoots [[spoiler: Natascha]] the moment his deadline runs out without any hesitation.
** Gregor himself is one, judging by his attempting to take a long-range pistol shot at a child before his companion pushes his hand away.
* CoolCar: Euro hot-rod sedans. The nitrous-equipped Audi S8 used in two chase scenes, the Citroen XM used by the Principal, the Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9, and the BMW M5 driven by [[spoiler: Deirdre in oncoming traffic.]]
* CoolGun: Gregor's silenced SniperPistol during the Jeep/playground scene has more mass in attachments than in an actual weapon.
* DownerEnding: Slightly with the deleted scenes. Deirdre ponders trying to reunite with Sam but is abruptly caught and presumably killed by her former IRA associates. The scene really doesn't add much to the ending and makes the IRA seem somewhat omniscient, so it was probably good that it was removed.
* EveryCarIsAPinto: Several cars crash and explode, most notably during the Paris car chase. Some realism, as this is either from a rocket up the arse or the ignition of spilled fuel.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Gregor's contact (the man Gregor intimidates by [[WouldHurtAChild almost sniping some random kid, just to show he's determined to kill him if he's double-crossed]]) get some serious jitters from Gregor pulling this (and even diverts Gregor's shot at the last second).
** Gregor's OhCrap reaction is partially this when he figures out that, ''yes'', the Russians [[RuthlessForeignGangsters are perfectly willing to let Natascha die]] (especially the man who is ''her boyfriend'') before paying him so much as a red cent over the case (the rest is his reaction to being OutGambitted).
* FakeoutMakeout:
** Used to obtain pictures of the case and its protectors (they are on the background of the picture Sam asks to be taken as the make-out happens).
** Sam and Deirdre are sitting in a car at night, scoping a target. When a car passes them, he pulls the fake-out. After they pull apart, she silently straddles him for a little real making-out.
* FemmeFatale: Deirdre.
* UsefulNotes/The47Ronin: Described in-film by a history buff who tries to identify Sam as a ronin in spirit. Sam rejects the comparison [[spoiler: but it turns out he's still a 'samurai']].
* FormerRegimePersonnel: Pretty much all of the characters. [[spoiler: Averted by Sam]].
* FourEyesZeroSoul: Gregor is the only mercenary with glasses. He’s also the most cutthroat and opportunistic of all of them, and he betrays the others so he can sell off the {{MacGuffin}} to the highest bidder.
* GenreThrowback: The film is essentially a classic '70s era heist film, but made and set in the late '90s.
* GoodIsNotNice: For a given definition of "good". [[spoiler: Unlike his teammates, Sam is still working for the CIA, but that doesn't mean he won't deploy explosive ordnance and instigate a massive shootout in the middle of a bustling city. Later he doesn't hesitate to shoot a fleeing enemy while surrounded by countless tourists.]] A lot of civilian bystanders get killed in the process.
* TheGhost: The [[PersonWithTheClothing man in the wheelchair]], who put together the recruits but is never shown.
* {{Greed}}: [[spoiler: Gregor's]] motivation for stealing the case for himself is so he can sell it directly to the Russians himself and keep the entire payday. [[spoiler: Turns into his FatalFlaw when they try to kill him during the initial meetup, but he avariciously still tries to sell it to them a second time for an even heftier price. [[LaserGuidedKarma The second time, he's]] OutGambitted [[LaserGuidedKarma and murdered.]]]]
* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: After a gunfight, Sam reveals that a bullet went through his kevlar because the "smartass sprayed Teflon on his bullets." Teflon isn't what makes a bullet [[ArmorPiercingAttack armor piercing]]. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teflon-coated_bullet It's just a coating to protect the inside of the barrel on the bullet's way out of the gun.]]
* HandcuffedBriefcase: The target is a briefcase handcuffed to the wrist of a VIP the mercenaries are ordered to secure with a MacGuffin inside.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Sam and Vincent.
* HollywoodSilencer: One of the attachments to Gregor's SniperPistol. It also makes the appropriate sound when [[spoiler: he kills his contact at the end of the scene]].
* HollywoodTactics: Spence's plan to capture the briefcase is to have two shooters blasting away at the car carrying it from opposite sides of the street. Sam calls him out on it (the shooters risk hitting each other with their stray bullets).
* HostageForMacGuffin: One that backfires badly when they're entirely willing to let the hostage die.
* HypercompetentSidekick: Jean-Pierre. Aside from helping Sam perform self-surgery and locating both Gregor and the Russians in Paris, his probing questions of both Vincent and Sam suggest he knows, or at least suspects, that [[spoiler:Sam still works for his government and isn't a ''real'' ronin]].
* IHaveYourWife: Gregor attempts to ensure the cooperation of the Russians this way. [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]
* IrishExplosivesExpert: A mysterious Irish woman hires the characters to move a briefcase, but won't tell them what it contains - Sam at one point asks if it's a bomb. [[RiddleForTheAges We never find out.]]
* KarmicDeath: Gregor is willing to murder a child to show how ruthless he is. [[spoiler: He underestimated Mikhi, who's equally ruthless and chooses to shoot Gregor and let his own young girlfriend be publicly murdered rather than pay for the case.]]
* KickTheDog: Gregor tries to murder a child just to make an offhanded point about how ruthless he is.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler: When Mikhi puts a round in Gregor's forehead, and when Seamus kills Mikhi for the case.]]
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler: Natascha is killed by Gregor's accomplice.]]
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: Happens in-universe. Gregor assumes [[spoiler: the Russians will let him live to spare the life of Natacha]], but he is proven wrong 45 seconds later.
* MeaningfulEcho:
** Sam claims the man he's talking to about triangulating a phone number is a [[EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether friend from high school]]. Obviously, it isn't true, as Vincent realizes, but he doesn't actually care and repeats the claim about his own friend later on. His refusal to knock him out suggests Vincent may have been telling the truth though.
* TheLancer: Vincent, to Sam's more heroic protagonist.
* MacGuffin: The case, the contents of which are never revealed. Sam isn't pleased at all when Deirdre refuses to give any details on what's in the case ("is it heavy, is it explosive?") and demands that if it's "amateur night," they're all going to have to be paid much, much more. [[spoiler: Turns out in the end that Sam wasn't even interested in the case. He was after Deirdre's boss Seamus, [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles an Irish terrorist leader who was getting in the way of peace talks]], and the case was just a way to get him into the open.]]
* TheMafiya
* MilesGloriosus: Spence is quite quickly revealed to be this.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Sam never left the CIA.]]
* {{Mysterious Past}}:
--> '''Sam:''' So, how'd you get started in this business?
--> '''Deirdre:''' ''[smiles]'' A wealthy scoundrel seduced and betrayed me.
--> '''Sam:''' Same with me. How about that?
* NoisyNature: Just an hour into the film, which takes place in central France, we get an aerial view of a hilly Mediterranean countryside... complete with the stereotypical "eagle cry" of ''strictly North American'' Red-tailed Hawk.
* NoNameGiven: None of the on-screen characters' last names are revealed, except for [[spoiler: Seamus O'Rourke]], whose full name is mentioned in a news report at the end. While most of them are probably using their real first names, [[spoiler: "Sam"]] most likely is not.
* NoodleIncident: When Sergey sneaks up behind Vincent.
--> '''Sergey:''' Stop. [Vincent stops and turns] Where do I know you from?
--> '''Vincent:''' [contemptuously] Vienna.
--> '''Sergey:''' Of course....
* OhCrap: [[spoiler: The look on Gregor's face when he realizes the Russians are perfectly willing to let Natacha die. That look doesn't last long.]]
* {{Oireland}}: Natascha [=McElhone=]'s Northern accent as Deirdre is rather dodgy and occasionally disappears. What makes it stranger is that [=McElhone=] has an Irish mother, yet Creator/JonathanPryce's accent is often more realistic.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** When the normally unshakable Vincent suddenly drops a French PrecisionFStrike and buckles up, you know your already frantic car chase is about to get ''a lot'' worse.
--> '''Vincent''': [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Merde!]]
** A similar one happens later when the equally stoic Gregor suddenly starts sweating nervously...
* OutGambitted: Gregor assumes he has the upper hand in the negotiation by threatening to have Natacha killed if they don't pay him. Too late, he realizes that the woman's ''own boyfriend'' is more than ready to let her die rather than pay up.
* PrettyInMink: Natacha (the skater) wears a mink coat in her first scene. [[spoiler: She gets killed, but it's because her {{Jerkass}} friend lets her die.]]
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: One is inflicted upon [[spoiler: Gregor]].
* ProveIAmNotBluffing: Gregor shoots at a random child in a playground just to make the point that he's a conscienceless killer who shouldn't be doublecrossed. The man he is dealing with [[EvenEvilHasStandards frantically assures him that the demonstration will not be necessary,]] and pushes away his hand so the bullet misses.
* PsychoForHire: Played ''very'' straight with Gregor, who is of the cold, methodical type, but still perfectly willing to kill random civilians just to make his point.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Spence, after Sam reveals that he's a twat and lied about his background.]]
* ReplacedWithReplica: The briefcase that has the MacGuffin was [[spoiler: replaced by Gregor with a similar one, except that it was meant to be detonated after a certain period of time. Sam was able to get rid of it after he noticed paint smears on his hands when he held the case.]]
* TheReveal: [[spoiler: "I never left."]]
* RewatchBonus: One blink-and-you-miss-it scene shows an unseen person spray-painting a window silver from the inside when Sam and Deirdre leave the safehouse to scope out the opposition. While meaningless at that moment, it turns into a nice bit of {{Foreshadowing}} to [[spoiler: Gregor's betrayal when you know that the suitcase he throws Sam after the chase through Nice turns out to be a spray-painted, booby-trapped mock]].
* RogueAgent: The characters are former UsefulNotes/ColdWar spies and special forces operatives working as mercenaries, [[spoiler: but at least one--and possibly others--are still secretly working for their own governments.]] Likewise, the terrorist Seamus is described by the IRA as a 'rogue breakaway operative' [[spoiler: after he fails to get his hands on the mysterious suitcase]].
* RuleOfThree: The "lessons" Sam learnt as a spy: "When in doubt, there is no doubt", the second one (in sarcastic jest) is that he forgot who gave him the first lesson, and the third one is said by Vincent in narration at the end: [[RiddleForTheAges you will have a lot of questions but very few (or maybe never will have) answers]], [[JustIgnoreIt so best to deal with it]] and [[AndTheAdventureContinues carry on to the next assignment]].
* SelfSurgery: Done by [[spoiler: Sam]]. For his credit, he mostly acted as an instructor and asked if they now manage to stitch him before passing out. [[spoiler: And with [[TheReveal the final reveal]] we learn he did it only [[{{Determinator}} to uphold the masquerade]]]].
* SchmuckBait: Whilst the team are buying weapons from some shady arms dealers in the first act, the dealers attempt to lure them into a spot under a bridge to get the rest of the order. Sam immediately pegs this as an obvious ambush spot, warning Vincent and Spence not to follow them in; Spence baulks at this, but the more stoic Vincent accepts the warning but goes in anyway, because he is "getting paid to go". When Sam spots a sniper and opens fire, triggering a firefight, Vincent is ready for it, whilst Spence is both literally and figuratively blindsided.
* SpottingTheThread: A number of [[spoiler: Spence's]] actions don't fit with his purported background - he suggests the team essentially walk into a trap during the weapons buy, and his reaction to the ensuing firefight is that of a man who has never seen combat. What ultimately causes Sam to question his story, however, is his dangerously inept plan to steal the case - Sam immediately points out that if the ambush positions are laid out as [[spoiler: Spence]] drew them, they'll be directly in each other's fields of fire and liable to shoot each other.
* TerseTalker: The movie is a masterclass on laconic dialogue. Major plot twists that other movies would build whole scenes around are delivered in single, brief sentences ([[spoiler:"I never left."]]) and every piece of exposition is given in cryptic bursts of [[NoodleIncident Noodle Incidence]] ("Vienna."). The only exception is a brief news report at the very end, which makes sense: it's not meant for the shadowy world of spies the movie inhabits.
* TitleDrop: The doctor has a bunch of tiny samurai figurines set up to depict the story of UsefulNotes/The47Ronin. He and Sam have a conversation comparing the mercenaries to {{ronin}}.
* TokenEvilTeammate: The mercenaries are hardly paragons of moral virtue, but all of them have sympathetic qualities and standards to varying degrees except for [[spoiler: Gregor, who even goes out of his way in one scene to make the point that he has absolutely ''no'' quote-on-quote 'standards.']]
* ToyotaTripwire: Happens to Gregor in Arles.
* TheUnfettered: [[spoiler: Gregor.]] Not deranged, but willing to kill a little girl he doesn't know to demonstrate a willingness to kill someone he does. Also arranges to have another innocent murdered if he dies during the climax. [[spoiler: He does, and so do they.]] Barely emotes throughout the whole film.
* {{Unishment}}: Once Spence is outed as a faker, he's simply told to take a hike and given a payoff to keep his mouth shut. Considering [[ChronicallyKilledActor what usually happens to characters played by Sean Bean]], it's a pretty good deal even without the hush money.
* TheUnreveal: Whatever is in the case, it might as well belong to [[Film/PulpFiction Marcellus Wallace]]. This irritates Sam, since knowing if it was heavy, explosive, fragile, or whatever would be helpful in getting it [[spoiler:(and his CIA handlers presumably do want to know its contents)]], but Deirdre steadily refuses to give out any data. He thus demands that the fee goes up. The final scene of the movie teases that Sam may know what's in the case, but when Vincent asks him it, Sam dodges the question, grinning. Vincent is happy to let it slide; by this time, he no longer cares about the case and was just asking out of idle curiosity. As his voiceover confirms.... "No questions, no answers. That's the business we're in."
* WannabeSecretAgent: [[spoiler: Spence]] claims to be former special ops, but his inexperience - in fact, outright naiveté - quickly becomes apparent, and he is sent packing immediately.
* WeaponOfChoice: Vincent’s only weapon is a Beretta [=92FS=] Inox. Sam admits he favors the 1911 pistol and uses one several times, but [[AvertedTrope also claims the idea of having a weapon of choice in the first place is too limiting.]]
-->"You know, it’s a toolbox. I don’t care. You put the tools in for the job. That’s all."
* WeHaveToGetTheBulletOut: Sam catches a bullet and has some impromptu surgery at the hideout.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The fate of Deirdre. [[spoiler: A DeletedScene at the end would have shown her getting caught and killed by her former IRA partners.]]
** Whatever happens to [[spoiler: Spence. Most action films made during this era would have a character that disappeared early on (especially a well-known actor like Sean Bean) [[ChekhovsGunman return during the pivotal]] FinalBattle. He doesn't]].
* WouldHurtAChild: Gregor is perfectly willing to snipe a child on a playground just to make a point to his current business partner. The only reason his shot misses is [[EvenEvilHasStandards said business partner's freaked-out intervention]].
* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: Sergei and [[spoiler: Seamus]] both fall for this, though it's not as blatant as normal.
** Inverted by Sam as the hero, lampshaded by Vincent verbatim, 'Why didn't you just shoot her?'
* WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell: The film's title alludes to former agents, on both sides of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, now being like Ronin samurai.
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* HollywoodSilencer: One of the attachments to Gregor's SniperPistol. It also makes the appropriate sound when [[spoiler: when he kills his contact at the end of the scene]].

* HypercompetantSidekick: Jean-Pierre. Aside from helping Sam perform self-surgery and locating both Gregor and the Russians in Paris, his probing questions of both Vincent and Sam suggest he knows, or at least suspects, that [[spoiler:Sam still works for his government and isn't a ''real'' ronin]].

* EveryCarIsAPinto: Several cars crash and explode, most notably during the Paris car chase.

* WannabeSecretAgent: [[spoiler: Spence]] claims to be former special ops, but his inexperience - in fact, outright na&iumul;veté - quickly becomes apparent, and he is sent packing immediately.

* WannabeSecretAgent: [[spoiler: Spence]] claims to be former special ops, but his inexperience - in fact, outright na&iimul;veté - quickly becomes apparent, and he is sent packing immediately.

* WannabeSecretAgent: [[spoiler: Spence]] claims to be former special ops, but his inexperience - in fact, outright na&iemul;veté - quickly becomes apparent, and he is sent packing immediately.

* BluffTheImpostor: When Sam suspects one of his colleagues isn't telling the truth about his background, he tests him with questions like [[spoiler:"What's the colour of the boathouse at Hereford?" Sam doesn't know either, but he knows that a real SAS veteran wouldn't have been so flustered by the question that Sam could get the drop on him.]]

** Creator/MichaelLonsdale appears as a colleague of Reno's [[spoiler:who helps with Sam's surgery after a shoot-out]], and who happens to be a fan of UsefulNotes/The47Ronin legend.

* ChekhovsGun: A coffee cup. Twice, as in an another scene the same cup is used yet again, this time to reveal a ChekhovsSkill.

** The female unnamed sniper working with Gregor who shoots [[spoiler:Natascha]]the moment his deadline runs out without any hesitation.

* CoolGun: Gregor's silenced SniperPistol during the Jeep/playground scene has more mass in attachments than in actual weapon.
* DownerEnding: Slightly with the deleted scenes. Deirdre ponders trying to reunite with Sam but is abruptly caught and presumably killed by her former IRA associates. The scene really doesn't add much to the ending, and makes the IRA seem somewhat omniscient, so it was probably good that it was removed.

** Used to obtain pictures of the case and its protectors (they are on the background of the picture Sam asks to be taken as the make out happens).

* UsefulNotes/The47Ronin: Described in-film by a history buff who tries to identify Sam as a ronin in spirit. Sam rejects the comparison [[spoiler:but it turns out he's still a 'samurai']].
* FormerRegimePersonnel: Pretty much all of the characters. [[spoiler:Averted by Sam]].
* FourEyesZeroSoul: Gregor is the only mercenary with glasses. He’s also the most cutthroat and opportunistic of all of them, and betrays the others so he can sell off the {{MacGuffin}} to the highest bidder.

* GoodIsNotNice: For a given definition of "good". [[spoiler:Unlike his team mates, Sam is still working for the CIA, but that doesn't mean he won't deploy explosive ordnance and instigate a massive shootout in the middle of a bustling city. Later he doesn't hesitate to shoot a fleeing enemy while surrounded by countless tourists.]] A lot of civilian bystanders get killed in the process.

* HollywoodSilencer: One of the attachments to Gregor's SniperPistol. It also makes the appropriate sound when [[spoiler:when he kills his contact at the end of the scene]].

* KickTheDog: Gregor tries to murder a child just to make a offhanded point about how ruthless he is.

* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Natascha is killed by Gregor's accomplice.]]
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: Happens in-universe. Gregor assumes [[spoiler: the Russians will let him live to spare the life of Natacha]], but is proven wrong 45 seconds later.

** Sam claims the man he's talking to about triangulating a phone number is a [[EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether friend from high school]]. Obviously it isn't true, as Vincent realizes, but he doesn't actually care and repeats the claim about his own friend later on. His refusal to knock him out suggests Vincent may have been telling the truth though.

* MacGuffin: The case, the contents of which are never revealed. Sam isn't pleased at all when Deirdre refuses to give any details on what's in the case ("is it heavy, is it explosive?") and demands that if it's "amateur night," they're all going to have to be paid much, much more. [[spoiler:Turns out in the end that Sam wasn't even interested in the case. He was after Deirdre's boss Seamus, [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles an Irish terrorist leader who was getting in the way of peace talks]], and the case was just a way to get him into the open.]]

** When the normaly unshakable Vincent suddenly drops a French PrecisionFStrike and buckles up, you know your already frantic car chase is about to get ''a lot'' worse.

* OutGambitted: Gregor assumes he has the upper hand in the negotiation by threatning to have Natacha killed if they don't pay him. Too late, he realizes that the woman's ''own boyfriend'' is more than ready to let her die rather than pay up.
* PrettyInMink: Natacha (the skater) wears a mink coat in her first scene. [[spoiler:She gets killed, but it's because her {{Jerkass}} friend lets her die.]]
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: One is inflicted upon [[spoiler:Gregor]].

* PsychoForHire: Played ''very'' straight with Gregor, who is of the cold, methodical type, but still perfectly willing to kill random civilians just to make his pooint.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Spence, after Sam reveals that he's a twat and lied about his background.]]
* ReplacedWithReplica: The briefcase that has the MacGuffin was [[spoiler:replaced by Gregor with a similar one, except that it was meant to be detonated after a certain period of time. Sam was able to get rid of it after he noticed paint smears on his hands when he held the case.]]

* RewatchBonus: One blink-and-you-miss-it scene shows an unseen person spray-painting a window silver from the inside when Sam and Deirdre leave the safehouse to scope out the opposition. While meaningless at that moment, it turns into a nice bit of {{Foreshadowing}} to [[spoiler:Gregor's betrayal when you know that the suitcase he throws Sam after the chase through Nice turns out to be a spray-painted, booby-trapped mock]].
* RogueAgent: The characters are former UsefulNotes/ColdWar spies and special forces operatives working as mercenaries, [[spoiler:but at least one--and possibly others--are still secretly working for their own governments.]] Likewise the terrorist Seamus is described by the IRA as a 'rogue breakaway operative' [[spoiler:after he fails to get his hands on the mysterious suitcase]].

* SpottingTheThread: A number of [[spoiler:Spence's]] actions don't fit with his purported background - he suggests the team essentially walk into a trap during the weapons buy, and his reaction to the ensuing firefight is that of a man who has never seen combat. What ultimately causes Sam to question his story, however, is his dangerously inept plan to steal the case - Sam immediately points out that if the ambush positions are laid out as [[spoiler:Spence]] drew them, they'll be directly in each other's fields of fire and liable to shoot each other.

* TheUnfettered: [[spoiler:Gregor.]] Not deranged, but willing to kill a little girl he doesn't know to demonstrate willingness to kill someone he does. Also arranges to have another innocent murdered if he dies during the climax. [[spoiler: He does, and so do they.]] Barely emotes throughout the whole film.

* TheUnreveal: Whatever is in the case, it might as well belong to [[Film/PulpFiction Marcellus Wallace]]. This irritates Sam, since knowing if it was heavy, explosive, fragile, or whatever would be helpful in getting it [[spoiler:(and his CIA handlers presumably do want to know its contents)]], but Deirdre steadily refuses to give out any data. He thus demands that the fee goes up. The final scene of the movie teases that Sam may know what's in the case, but when Vincent asks him it, Sam dodges the question, grinning. Vincent is happy to let it slide; by this time, he no longer cares about the case, and was just asking out of idle curiosity. As his voiceover confirms.... "No questions, no answers. That's the business we're in."
* WannabeSecretAgent: [[spoiler:Spence]] claims to be former special ops, but his inexperience - in fact, outright naivete - quickly becomes apparent, and he is sent packing immediately.
* WeaponOfChoice: Vincent’s only weapon is a Beretta [=92FS=] Inox. Sam admits he favors the 1911 pistol, and uses one several times, but [[AvertedTrope also claims the idea of having a weapon of choice in the first place is too limiting.]]
-->"You know, it’s a tool box. I don’t care. You put the tools in for the job. That’s all."

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The fate of Deirdre. [[spoiler:A DeletedScene at the end would have shown her getting caught and killed by her former IRA partners.]]
** Whatever happens to [[spoiler:Spence. Most action films made during this era would have a character that disappeared early on (especially a well-known actor like Sean Bean) [[ChekhovsGunman return during the pivotal]] FinalBattle. He doesn't]].

* WhyDontYaJustShootHim: Sergei and [[spoiler:Seamus]] both fall for this, though it's not as blatant as normal.
** Inverted by the Sam as the hero, lampshaded by Vincent verbatim, 'Why didn't you just shoot her?'

Directed by Creator/JohnFrankenheimer, and has Creator/RobertDeNiro heading a cast of notable character actors, such as Creator/JeanReno, Creator/SeanBean, Creator/NataschaMcElhone, Creator/JonathanPryce, and Creator/StellanSkarsgard. The finished film was partially or completely written by Creator/DavidMamet depending on who you ask (original and credited screenwriter [=J.D.=] Zeik and others close to the production say Mamet only did some fleshing out of [=DeNiro=]'s character, Frankenheimer says the script is all Mamet).

* NoisyNature: Just an hour into the film, which takes place in central France, we get an aerial view of a hilly Mediterranean countryside, and the stereotypical "eagle cry" of the Red-tailed Hawk, which is from North America.

* WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell: The film's title alludes to former agents, on both sides of the ColdWar, now being like Ronin samurai.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler: When Mikhi puts a round in Gregor's forehead, and when Seamus kills Mikhi.]]