Yesterday, on the way home from work I passed a Nissan 350Z with the license plate:
RON1N
Too bad, RONIN must've already been taken.
Obviously, the message he's sending is that he's a masterless warrior, a lone samurai who reports to nobody. A loner, Dottie. A rebel.
Or, he's a computer games nerd who spends hours in front of a PC playing roll-playing games where he's a ronin slashing through whatever enemies are put before him.
Or, he's a HUGE fan of the movie "Ronin" starring Robert DeNiro and Jean Reno with minor but valuable parts going to Sean Bean (who plays a great bad guy) and Katarina Witt, who could sell ShamWows and SlapChops for a living, and I'd watch her endlessly. But, I'm getting off point. Maybe the fact that "Ronin" has the greatest car chase scene ever (I will not debate this) inspired him to put it on his license plate.
You know what else was inspired? The police officer, 2 lanes over from RON1N. Once RON1N passed him, the cop then whipped two lanes to his right, pulling in right behind RON1N, and followed him onto the road leading into the campus of Kennesaw State University. I'm pretty sure the cop figured that anybody with a Nissan 350Z and a license plate that says RON1N is going to do a false stop at a stop sign, run a red light, not yield to a pedestrian, or something else for which the cop could write a ticket. Of course, the cop might've just been stuck and unable to get over, but I'm pretty sure he was profiling. I should've followed him to see if he hit the lights and pulled over the Samurai Commuter.
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Great film, great car chase but not the best ever (I will not debate either, but i am right).
ReplyDeleteMaybe he just lost his job and that's his way of spelling unemployed?
I never saw Ronin so I cannot weigh in on the car chase scene but the best one I have ever scene was the chase at the end of The Blues Brothers.
ReplyDeleteMatrix Revolutions had a pretty good car chase, but I have not seen Ronin. I like the chase in Cannonball Run, also. I like Daisy Duke in leather in my chase scenes.
ReplyDeleteI'm going with a computer geek who got bashed sensless as a child for his cleft palate and strong body odour - he spends his evenings searching the internet for replica samurai swords. When his mother goes on Vacation to Wisonsin for her fortnight break twice a year, he has hookers over and claims that the swords are real and instead of fucking them, he just asks them to watch him sharpen the blade. Which he does inexpertly. He will soon commit Harri Karri - or whatever it is called, and the world will be the better for his absence.
ReplyDeleteDid we just get a glimpse at the real Lermontov?
ReplyDeleteThe longest car chase, no question. And Frankenheimer did a very decent job with the cinematography (as he had with the race scenes in Grand Prix which he made in the late 60s.) Only marks off was for having a Peugeot 607 spin the back wheels at one point. Big stupid French saloons are ALWAYS front wheel drive. They invented FWD for big cars. It doesn't work worth a toss, big FWD cars tend to understeer into cheese-eating surrender at the first sign of a corner.
ReplyDeleteBut but but... regardless of whether it's Bullitt, or Blues Bros, or Vanishing Point, or whatever you stack up against Ronin in the car chase contest, one thing they don't have and Ronin does is... Jean Reno looking seedy, smoking Gauloises and f--king people up. Which is about the only French thing worth watching on the big screen (other than that chick from Casino Royale.) If the Free French had Jean Reno in Nikita 'I MUST CLEAN!' mode, Adolf would have run screaming out of France by half past 1940.
I didn’t reckon much to Ronin myself. I have to agree with Ian: The Blues Brothers will take some beating for the best car chase. The bit where the car goes over the end of the unfinished bridge is a moment of cinematic history.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think the cops should have just pulled him over for having an annoying number plate.
Kona, please pick a movie whose car chase scene was not done via green screens and computers. Matrix is disqualified, sir. Cannonball and Blues Brothers were both good, but they were different....they were done with humor in mind. The Bourne and National Treasure movies also featured some quality stuff.
ReplyDeleteYobbo, I agree, using a Puegeot didn't seem right. Some Citroen models might've been better. But I think they had to use a Puegeot in order to be allowed to film in Paris. I'm making that up, but knowing the French, would you be surprised? And I also agree about Reno. I would watch a movie about the French Resistance if he was the star.
Simon, I highly recommend Ronin, kind of a sleeper movie. DeNiro and Reno fuck a lot of shit up together.
I haven't seen Ronin, so my take on greatest car chase scene goes to French Connection. For ass pucker, on the edge of your seat, this is the one...for me...but then, I'm a old guy who puckers easily.
ReplyDeleteLermontov may be right about the nerd's slasher potential, but I'm thinking the victim is going to be a cop. Possibly a lucky man the policeman you saw.
@ Naut - I only have Infantry swords (well one actually)
ReplyDeleteAnd Reno in 'The Visitors' (Les Visiteurs - it is subtitled)) was so funny - definitely worth grabbing if you have some time
And I hope you and your wife have a wonderful Valentines Day - get the Dishwasher ON!
ReplyDeletehaven't seen Ronin either..
ReplyDeletesteve, disappointed you didn't follow.. Did the guy have a mullet?