THE LAST RONIN Review: A Cool, Well-Crafted Genre Blend For 80s And 90s Action Fans
The Last Ronin debuts on Digital beginning September 16 from Well Go USA.
2024 saw the release of writer/director Max Shishkin’s dystopian western action adventure, The Last Ronin, in local Russian cinemas. Well Go USA now extends the courtesy of its thrills to the masses in North America with a cast led by Yuri Kolokolnikov and Diana Enakaeva, and two hours of unnerving danger and suspense…
Such is what happens set against the backdrop of a world, barren and on the brink thanks to devastating climate change and all matters of resources and trade all boiling down to the use of bullets as currency for the remnants of mankind. Ronin (Kolokolnikov) survives a deal gone awry prior to being ambushed by a small band of masked marauders who’ve peeled off from their gang, and nearly single-handedly surviving their attack.
Befriended by a young girl named Mariya (Enakaeva), in desperate need of a skilled wayfarer to help guide her to her birthplace, the two journey across the wastelands with a week of travel on foot ahead of them. In a matter of hours, the trek turns into a race against the clock before the rest of the masked gang and their vengeful leader can catch up.
Ronin and Mariya are forced to fight and toil through bandits and religious cannibals while scavenging for anything they can find during their harrowing quest. In between the scrimmages, the two manage to learn just a little more about each other and their motivations, with Mariya’s intentions made loud and clear as an ominous sign for the Ronin, a man haunted by his past, and efforting against all odds to try and save Mariya from a similar fate, or something worse.
Shishkin’s story, set in a vast desert and brimming with grit and fervor, delivers a surprisingly entertaining action adventure – one that shares characteristics from a multitude of genre thrillers. Think tropes from films like Lone Wolf & Cub or Albert Pyun’s Cyborg, or the more recent Blade Of The Immortal, or films like Steel Dawn, The Blood Of Heroes, or to be a tad more closer, the Hughes Brothers’ The Book Of Eli, to a degree.
Kolokolnikov’s portrayal of the titular Ronin is every bit the protagonist you expect him to be: a version of himself that – if he had it his way and had no choice but to fight – would otherwise do his best to avoid killing. Never the less, despite his best efforts to use his sheath and evade, the first fight scene sees him resigned to cutting down the first squad of masked bandits attacking him. Modifying his odds next to his keen use of a sword and a book of writings from which he’s spent his time studying, is a .45 caliber pistol which he can only use to bludgeon his enemies, considering the bullets it requires are nowhere to be found.
To that end, the first round fired comes from Mariya’s revolver well within the film’s opening act. Beyond this and in compensating for a lack of life experience, she’s as strong-willed and stubborn as you would predict, having survived a troubled past filled with abuse and abandonment. It doesn’t take much to keep her on edge with anyone including the Ronin, even if she’s asking for help.
The rest of the film eventually sees Ronin and Mariya parting ways before introducing audiences to a climatic battle scene in a makeshift royal hall overseen by a maniacal King who speaks French, who wears a crown made of bullets, and who sits on a throne made of guns, and he has a one-handed little person who serves as his translator. Shishkin pulls out all the stops in the film’s explosive finale by this point, featuring stunt direction by Alexander Shein who makes a cameo midway in the film, and with third-act sequence full of bullets and blades, and a ferocious three way fight scene with a single gold knife that will leave you salivating.
Invariably, The Last Ronin is pretty dark at its core, with character development that is almost unshakably chilling by the end. To its credit, Shishkin’s poetic touch in service to the film’ thematic adherence to revenge-versus-redemption serves emblematic to the kind of film that leaves you feeling like our protagonist’s story is far from over. The Last Ronin assuredly works as a one-and-done, although I’m inclined to hope, with any luck, that this won’t be the last of the Ronin’s story.
