If you folks don't mind me spitting out a bit more of my personal opinions for this light-hearted discussion, I would like to elaborate on my original comment.
TRL is not a war flick. Saving Private Ryan is a war flick (and one of my favorite movies by the way). TRL is a poetic drama about the human psyche during times of war. If you expected a war flick, you will be sorely disappointed. If you somewhat love poetry, literature, and explorations of the human mind, you will like this movie. And the gorgeous visuals doesn't hurt either. The blur of stars is delibrate. Part of the message the movie is attempting to convey is the countless, ambiguous faces one sees in war. The movie shows only enough of each to let the viewers know they are human beings with history, personality, and life of their own, before they are moved off into amorphous oblivion.
Now, the reason why it bugged me so much is because many of the poetry got me. It just.. uh.. hit a chord or three. I mean, it's so.. beautiful. But because it deals with human trauma and suffering, this is one film I don't personally recommend to any vets out there who are still haunted by their past. No need for that.
NOW, as to WHY I don't like Ronin, I want to state that for a guy movie, I like it. There are very few of action movies I don't like at least a little bit just because I enjoy the theme. But, why Robert DeNiro was picking on the guy when he said, "Shoot here and hear, they shoot each other and die.", I wasn't quite sure. It was obvious from very early on that the guy was an idiot, and should've been kicked off (or rubbed off) the team long time ago. Robert DeNiro only got on his case when he made a stupid illustration on strafing fire? You know, you can strafing together like that depending on terrain. And real life being what it is, you're probably not going to strafe perfectly like that anyways. Then Robert DeNiro goes out and attacks the Bodyguard's cars, but but why he is gung-ho and shoots in front of his car rather than take cover behind the car's engine block is beyond me if he's the sensibly cautious type who places saving his own butt high on his list of priorities. Or at least this is what I was thinking when I was watching this movie.
None of this are really a problem of course, since I don't expect and don't want to see anything too realistic coming from Hollywood. But at the same time, I can't take them seriously as professionals that they protray because of the inconsistencies. Fine. What gets me is the annoying "quiet macho" image that they protray. Especially the end when they lament/reflect on the rules of being on this line of work. I sorry, but it makes me personally want to gag.
What the movie DOES have, however, are a few clever points that serves as floatation devices to help keep this movie from sinking into the bottomless sea of bad movies. For example, I like they Robert DeNiro finds ways to gather information and plan their attack. That was fun. And I do like the hit! Yes! I also liked the miniature and story about the 40 Ronins (as the movie title implies). But in a world filled to the brim with action titles, this one pales in comparison with brighter examples out there.