Rent or buy the DVD Ronin and listen to the director's commentary. Frankenheimer does not use special effects. He does the quick-cut-on-a-black-frame trick to shorten an otherwise long trip though a wide open plaza into a few seconds. Then watch what he does elsewhere and how he does it. Also watch the other ways he compresses time: the actor enters a building, the camera pans up to a third storey window, the we cut to him approaching the apartment door. In my opinion the lack of special effects adds to the realism and would apply to CGI too. At least that's what I hope :-)

(Then watch the car chase scenes. The actors were actually being driven through the narrow streets at 100 km/h. No wonder their reactions seemed so real. The drivers were Formula 1 drivers so hopefully they knew what they were doing.)

It's also a great movie!