Rocknrolla

Rock’n Rolla.

Ugh.  Guy Ritchie has lost it.

Do yourself a favor and go rent or buy Snatch, or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and skip this pile.

The characters are all pretty good.  The dude from 300 does a good job.  Thandie Newton is sexy as ever.  But this movie just stinks.

It’s very slow moving from what you’ve come to expect with these slick, British heist flicks.  It just didn’t hold my attention very well. 

There are some interesting scenes from a visual stand point but this ain’t a music video.  Maybe Guy should stick to those.

I give this film half a soccer hooligan out of five.

Cal Reed

“Swagger” isn’t a word readily associated with British movies. We’ve come a long way from The Italian Job… through the 80s; the decade of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach; that sober, serious, socially-conscious hell that movie-goers watched from behind their Guardian newspapers. But in 1998 “swagger” re-entered the lexicon, and despite a few minor wobbles, “swagger” has remained – in the form of Guy Ritchie’s movie resume – ever since. His latest, RocknRolla, is pure swagger; a giddy, Technicolor two-fingers to his detractors, suffused with such love of self and London that it’s like a French-kiss from Kate Moss.

As usual, there’s a very complicated plot, and, as usual, it involves a band of geezers; invincible Russian he-men; sexy dames; a snarling crime boss and lots of camera tricks. Suffice to say: Tom Wilkinson plays a thug who wants to be Bob Hoskins in The Long Good Friday. His lieutenant, Mark Strong, is a dead-ringer for Andy Garcia in The Godfather Part III, and both men want back a stolen painting, which has been stolen by Wilkinson’s son (Toby Kebbell), who acts like Pete Doherty. Into the mix Ritchie adds a trio of loveable rogues known as The Wild Bunch (Gerard Butler, Idris Elba and Tom Hardy) and a Russian mob boss (Karel Roden). What follows is a bit like Alfie if Alfie had been addicted to crack.

Ritchie is strongest when he’s having fun, and it seems, after two movies spent trying to shoehorn Madonna’s world into Ritchie-land, he’s ready to have fun again with RocknRolla. Where Revolver was like watching a teenager explain something deep to you (“duality… like, woah!”), RocknRolla plays like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels had never ended. The movie is shameless in riffing on Ritchie’s past conceits; it doesn’t care that you’ve seen this all before… because you haven’t seen this with Gerard Butler and the guy who played Stringer Bell in The Wire! And this time one of the geezers is gay! And Tom Wilkinson wears a bald-cap! Somehow – although this should make you want to hit Ritchie – you want Lock, Stock back. Maybe Revolverhad to be as bad as it was just to show you how good those Mockney gangster movies were, in comparison.

There are a clutch of great scenes, but I’d call the best a two-way split between sex and violence. The reduction of Gerard Butler and Thandie Newton’s coupling to a razor-edit series of oohs and ahs is priceless, but it’s easily matched by a robbery-gone-wrong in which the Russian guards of the loot simply Will Not Die. Gerard Butler shines in both these scenes as a hard man with a wicked sense of humour, and he makes you realise how much of his talents were squandered in 300, where he played a male stripper with a sword.

Thandie Newton, who is, quite clearly, living proof there is a God – is pretty good here as a bad girl who struts and grins and comes on all Eartha Kitt-y. She’s been the new Eartha Kitt ever since she arrived in Hollywood, except that no-one’s stepped forward to be her Orson Welles (I’m thinking of that great Orson anecdote where he bit Kitt on the lip – while kissing her – because he “got excited”). Newton doesn’t have a great deal to do in RocknRolla, other than dance with Butler and get him in the sack, but her looks are active.

RocknRolla finds Guy Ritchie prepping for divorce (with any luck). He’s paid his dues on the Madonna production line, made one movie for her to act in and another to espouse her religious views. Now, you get the feeling, he’s fished his balls out of the jar Mrs. Ritchie put them in, put the kibosh on kabbalah and written his new script down at the local pub. The swagger that Britain (and Brad Pitt) loved in Lock, Stock is back, and it’s beautiful.  RocknRolla is Britain as if Tony Scott ran the country and London was the setting for True Romance. It’s a robber’s movie, and it thrills you like cash.

If you’ve seen Guy Ritchie’s previous films, you’d know what to expect; a couple of lowlife criminals cum buddies, hefty cash, a missing item that goes around, queer straight-faced hit man, frustrated mobsters and a collision of all the main characters. By the way, Jason Statham is not in this movie, surprisingly.

I’ve seen three of his most famous movies thus far.
1) Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrel. I thought it was a really cool movie and Ritchie would go a long way in the industry.
2) Snatch. It’s kind of similar to his previous movie with wittier lines and more interesting plot. Ritchie was on his way up.
3) Rocknrolla. It is a rendition of the previous two movies. How do you feel when you hear the same joke for the third time? Not cool.

I am quite a fan of Guy Ritchie, particularly for his ingenious style of editing. He dares to throw heaps of jump cuts, transitions, few Dutch tilt and occasionally breaks the 180 degree rule, and whatever he does illuminate the harmony between the story and the picture. He has his own style of impressing the audience. Well done for that but I think it’s time for him to move beyond his comfy box. He’s too complacent with the same ol’ story plot. Maybe his loyal male fans still enjoy it but I won’t be so sure about the females. I, for one, am tired. However, I still have much faith in him. I wish he would deliver something different in his upcoming movie.

Hardcore fans would love this. If you hadn’t watched any of his previous films, you might like this. To the boys out there: you’re likely to enjoy this. To the girls: it’s a ‘Guy’ movie. You decide.

Mel says: 7.2/10

So what is a Rock-n-Rolla? The marketing campaign for this film circulated this question through every possible medium, causing a terrible case of "annoying fake British accents" amongst our friends and family (a condition similar to "Borat-itis"). Before RocknRolla was even released, people were buzzing with fake British enthusiasm to find the answer to this question. However, when the film was finally released, we discovered people didn't so much care about finding the true meaning of a "Rock-n-Rolla" as much as they did masquerading as a British person. This is evidenced by the fact that RocknRolla only made about $6 million and never broke into the top 10 at the box office. Even I, who was a fan of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, didn't bother seeing this film. It's a good thing I didn't waste my money. RocknRolla tries to be as fun and charismatic as its predecessors, but falls into a veritable mine field of movie faux pas.

RocknRolla is not a sequel as I may have led on, but simply a film in the same vein as Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. After deviating from the "multiple storyline" gimmick since 2000, writer/director Guy Ritchie returns to the form that made him famous for his latest film. Sadly, the eight year break seems to have gotten to Ritchie and he was unable to bring himself back to his heyday. RocknRolla loosely revolves around Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson), the self-proclaimed King of the Old School who runs most of London. Lenny is currently trying to make a deal with some local Russians, and as a token of affection Russian head Uri Omovich (Karal Roden) allows him to hold on to his lucky painting. To Lenny's dismay, the painting is stolen from his home by his estranged son, rock star Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell). While he searches for his junkie offspring, Lenny and his confidant Archie (Mark Strong) must also keep relations with the Russians running smoothly, keeping it a secret that he lost Uri's beloved painting. Unfortunately, tensions rise as the shipment of money between the two parties continually gets stolen by One-Two and Mumbles (Gerard Butler and Idris Elba), two crooks who were tipped off by shifty accountant Stella (Thandie Newton). As the story progresses, everyone's world begins to fold into everyone else's, meeting at an end that was more of a whimper than a bang. Much less cohesive and interesting than his previous efforts, Ritchie wastes his opportunity at a comeback on this scrap heap.

To some degree, RocknRolla is a pretty film. Not in terms of the events sprawled out on the screen, but rather in how Ritchie and cinematographer David Higgs show what is being done. The use of somewhat dirty coloring conveys the grimy feel of the world these no good characters are living in. Ritchie also sometimes redeems himself with a clever filming style, specifically in one scene as One-Two and his partner Mumbles are being chased down by some unstoppable Russians. The rest of the film however, is a total loss and an incomprehensible mess. The smash-bang execution that Ritchie perfected in Snatch was obviously short-lived, as was his ability to spin an engaging story from his mental yarn. The mostly central story following the whereabouts of a missing painting is hardly enough to keep the viewers eyes forward. Even a ten year old who just drank seven Red Bulls would start to get bored. Ritchie fails to create a single memorable character from his basic, bland script. Even as I'm writing this, I frequently have to visit the IMDb page of this film to remind myself of the character's names. I can't even remember if Stella, the accountant, worked for Lenny, Uri, both, or neither. You could say that this is no more than the fault of my own memory, but I argue that Ritchie didn't do a good enough job to plant these faces in my head as he did in Snatch.

In both of Ritchie's previous multi-story films, the plot is driven by a maniacal kingpin who has "commoners" groveling for mercy. In RocknRolla, this role is stepped into by two time Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson, a consistently impressive actor that most recently knocked me out with his portrayal of Benjamin Franklin in the HBO mini-series "John Adams". To my chagrin, Wilkinson brings the biggest disappointment of the film in the form of his surprisingly weak performance. An intimidating kingpin Tom Wilkinson does not make, so much as a man who is just a jerk. The characters in RocknRolla may have feared Lenny Cole, but that is just because the script told them to. As a viewer, I was as daunted by Cole as I would be of a Pomeranian with a mean streak. In Snatch, Ritchie created a villain that truly induced fear and with the perfect performance of Alan Ford, the character Brick Top was one to remember. Lenny Cole is a boring scoundrel with no lasting power. Even Cole's growing opponent Uri was portrayed in a rather tame manner. With the exception of one scene that shows his power, Karal Roden never gets the opportunity to show how devilish his character is. The supporting performances from the entire cast, including Thandie Newton, Gerard Butler, Jeremy Piven, Mark Strong, and Ludacris, are all nothing but exercises in mediocrity. The only showing anywhere close to being worthy of celebration is Toby Kebbell's drugged out, hyper-violent, comically apathetic Johnny Quid. His character's farcical behavior gives RocknRolla a slight ray of sunshine in an otherwise dank cave. However, his talents are grossly under-utilized and for most of the movie we are subject to the flat stories of the other characters.

RocknRolla could have had a place on my DVD shelf for years to come right next to Ritchie's other accomplishment's, but instead I will never have it enter my home again. It's unnecessary length is the final straw, closing in on two hours. Snatch was by no means short and was only ten minutes shorter than RocknRolla, but it was at least filled with things to appreciate. If you want to watch a caper flick that's fast paced and highly satisfying, watch Snatch. If you want to watched a caper flick that tries to be quick but instead gets bogged down by it's stale story, watch RocknRolla. My rating (3/10)