Too many recent films have taken the easy way out by equating action with violence. Director John Frankenheimer's latest film, Ronin, is a stylish action/thriller that delivers the goods without cranking up the body count.

Ronin takes its name from the Japanese term given to feudal samurai who have failed their masters and have been exiled to roam the land in search of a master they can sell their services to. What we get with this movie is one answer to a key question: what happens to ex-CIA and KGB agents now that the cold war is over?

A small band of mercenaries is brought together to execute a mission to steal a briefcase of immense value to both their unknown employers and its present owner. Highlighting the ronin metaphor, the assembled team has no apparent political affiliation and only one concern: the payoff. The backgrounds of the players and details surrounding the mission are murky at the outset. As the story unfolds and allegiances and loyalties switch, the motivations of the players are revealed. One of the most satisfying aspects of the film is that not all of the loose ends are tied up. The ambiguity of certain events only strengthens the film's appeal to those that don't require a trite, TV Movie of the Week solution to enjoy a movie.

The acting is top notch, led by Robert De Niro in a superbly restrained performance. It is refreshing to watch De Niro excel in a role that requires more nuance and subtlety than some of the more over-the-top characters he has portrayed. The hope here is that De Niro continues to shy away from the now overdone "psycho" characters he has played in the past (see The Fan). Also excelling in this film is Jean Reno, who has the world-weary look of a spy who is dying to come in from the cold but hasn't been able to make it happen.

The director has gone to great lengths to achieve a retro look and feel throughout the film. That retro look and feel is all the more appealing given the current state of the action genre. One of the touches used are stunt drivers to hurtle cars through the streets of France in chase scenes. The tactic has the effect of putting you in the driver's seat for some of the most gut-wrenching chase scenes in recent memory. The film's score and French scenery add to the old world atmosphere and transport you to an era before technology and carnage transformed the action genre to its current mindless state. Frankenheimer has stripped out most of the noise and overdone violence surrounding today's action movies to allow the story to unfold at a more satisfying pace. In the process he has created a film that retains plausibility throughout. The violence that is injected into the story is quick, decisive and has real consequence.

My only quibble with Frankenheimer is that, given his past accomplishments, this film almost seems too easy for him. Like the recent offerings from Francis Ford Coppola (The Rainmaker) and Robert Altman (The Gingerbread Man), John Frankenheimer's Ronin is a good movie from a great director, but it is somewhat disappointing in that these artists don't appear to be challenging themselves or the movie-going public by taking on these projects and not expanding the various genres in the process. Until we get some more groundbreaking cinema from this trio of titans we will have to be satisfied with an entertaining, if not challenging, evening at the movies.