RocknRolla (2008)

Simply Perfect

Great Film overall

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

When you're British, you don't need to go on bragging about yourself being the "Best," everyone pretty much accepts that already. So when structuring a group of British gangsters one distinguishes them with some clear obvious notes. Sure they may dress better than Wall Street overlords, and have more class, but they also, nevertheless, don't just think big, they think bigger and smarter. They are the Brits for Christ sake. Which also means they don't talk trash like the Italian mobsters or live as filthy as the gangs of New York. But yes, they are indeed gangsters. Dangerous and merciless -- but one of a kind. They'd kill you but in their own way. In fact, they won't waste even a nick of time when they mean business or in other words, when they want to kill you, they will come and simply kill you. It's one of those rare circular con jobs where you can more or less figure out what's going on, and you can more or less understand why nobody else does, although at various times, they all think they do, and at other times, you're wrong. While they engage in these miscalculations, they act terrifically dangerous to one another -- so smoothly you'd swear they were in the second year of a repertory tour.After a botched land deal, One Two (Gerard Butler) and Mumbles (Idris Elba) steal the money they need to pay back fixer Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson), with the help of accountant Stella (Thandie Newton). But their plans are complicated by a Russian oligarch and his one beloved "lucky" painting... That's Guy Richie's film. As with Richie's "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" or "Snatch", this is another narrative underrated class, setting up One Two and Mumbles -- the nominal everyday-criminal-heroes (it's when your villains are much stronger and far better than you are) -- who navigate us through a series of subplots, including one about a never-seen stolen painting that skews too close to Pulp Fiction's running gag about the briefcase. Though the comedy works well (there's a great scene where the gay Handsome Bob (Tom Hardy) has his way with One Two with a line like "I want you"), the final reel is just too light, with a touch of sitcom about the - almost - consequence-free finale. It was pretty real and shows how a completely normal straight man would react if he finds out his best friend is gay and wants him. On the other hand he'd also probably be left in much awe if this the last night before his friend leaves for prison and for the next five years. The bottom line is, all these people chase the same money around with the success of doggie tail-biting, and it's a lot of fun, and it's not often in these con films that everybody is conning everybody, and they're all scared to death, and nobody knows which cup the pea is under. Some very hard cases from the London and Russian underworlds who are all trying to out-think on one another and to wonder which one has truly underestimated the other.But the one that stands out in between, so much so that it gives the film its title, is the strand dealing with Lenny Cole's wayward son, a crack-addicted rocker called Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell). While that's a bit of a give away, the actual best thing about the film is Cole's right hand man and Quid's uncle (and sort of his childhood hero), Archy (Mark Strong). The "title" of the film secretly belongs to him, actually. And you'll know it right before the end through Quid. Speaking of which, it's a terrific turn from Kebbell, making sly digs at the music industry and drawing parallels between his rock world and the underworld with a turn that veers from cadaverous and vulnerable to whippet-like and surprisingly tough when times get the hardest. Proclaiming his status as the next Real "RockNRolla" (just like his Uncle) right before we all take him for granted."RocknRolla" is how they say "rock and roller" in the East End. It isn't as jammed with visual pyrotechnics or cool fight sequences but that's OK, because with anything more happening, the movie could induce motion sickness. It never slows down enough to be really good, and never speeds up enough to be the Bourne Mortgage Crisis, but there's one thing for sure: British actors enjoy playing gangsters as much as American actors love playing cowboys.The biggest misconception about Guy Ritchie is that he cares what the critics think about him - he doesn't. With his wife and his brother-in-law's stupid book in the papers on every other page these days – a steal for its terrific cast alone - he has to be pretty steady on his priorities. From the Banksy-style opening credits, it's clear that Ritchie wants this film to get to you. This is a film that grabs your attention, holds it and, for the bulk of its running time, actually warrants it. With RocknRolla, Ritchie isn't reverting, he's progressing.Don't expect any new tricks. Every character will still be introduced with a trademark flourish, lest our attention wander for a second. There will be an aggressive voice-over hinting at grand schemes gone haywire: this time it's a five-minute disquisition on hedge funds and London's property boom, which is so tragically 2007 (and tedious) you half expect a cameo from Tony Blair. But why should you? Just draw your attention to the flip side of the discussion: (Written in boring bold black and white all along) It's a story of Sex, Thugs and Rock 'n Rolla!

This movie actually turned out to be better than I had anticipated. I initially picked up this movie because of Gerard Butler stars in it.While the story does seem a bit confusing at first, give it some time to sink in. It was actually an interesting story, especially as it was the same story just told from different sides of the table, so to speak.I can't claim to be overly familiar with the work of Guy Ritchie, although I do know of him by his name. I found "RocknRolla" to be a well-directed movie.The cast in "RocknRolla" is rather good and people really performed quite well in their individual roles, each one adding their own spice and flavor to the movie.It was nice to see a movie of this type which wasn't just all gunfights and brawling. So a big thumbs up to Guy Ritchie for his achievement with "RocknRolla"."RocknRolla" is well-worth watching, and the 115 minutes it runs for just fly by so quickly because you get sucked up into the movie right from the very beginning, and yes, it is that entertaining.

You buy a bottle of Guinness, a bar or Lindt dark chocolate or you boil yourself and egg and eat it on toast and you're not going to get many surprises, you'll get what you paid for but you'll enjoy then just the same. Guy Ritchies's gangster films are just like that: you know what you're in for and there ain't a single surprise, but you enjoy them just the same. Ritchie has his formula and it's a winner.When, in the past he's strayed from that formula, he's ended up with egg on his face, so he's best off sticking to his formula: a convoluted plot, a set of stereotypical London gangster, loads of witty one-liners, and all of it presented in a fast-cut style and two hours later you rise from your seat sufficiently entertained. That's it.Ritchie is never going to win an Oscar, never going to gain kudos from 'cineastes', but as long as he delivers the goods - and sticks to his formula - he'll always have an audience. That's it really.

When one says "Guy Ritchie's cult film", they usually mean either Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch. No wonder. These films defined Ritchie as a world-famous director, and since they both found their way to the IMDb Top 250, apparently the audience loves them too.I saw those films, and they are without a doubt a high class cinema. Yet it is RocknRolla that i truly fell in love with. And there's a reason for that. You see, Guy Ritchie might be a god, but not an almighty one. His field is called "criminal comedy", this is the genre which he rules. And when it comes to criminal comedies, there are two things that are the most important - the criminal part and the comedic one. And while to some it might seem like an easy thing - "just shoot and make jokes" - in fact it's not that simple. Crimes are essentially bad from the regular people's point of view, and to be believable they do have to look serious. But serious things don't make people laugh, especially when it comes to robbing or killing people. So keeping all the grimy details but serving them in a way so that the audience takes them with a light-hearted smile is a real art.I think Guy Ritchie wasn't always a true wizard of his craft. His skills and tricks needed some time and practice to hone. And while his earlier films had the advantage of freshness, which is probably why they are so highly rated by people, they lacked a certain subtlety and technical perfection. Both Lock Stock and Snatch had their not-so-brilliant moments when they were losing the pace or were getting a bit too dramatic to be fun. It might mean more versatility, but when you have a particular genre to tend to, versatility at the cost of breaking out of it isn't always a good thing.Enter RocknRolla. A traditionally intricate and ingenious story about the people of the under- and upper world and the incredible coincidences that bring them together. It's pointless to describe what exactly happens in Ritchie's movies, since it's not the plot that makes a difference, it's the little episodes and details. And in this film our master shows himself as a real genius. To me, there was no single unnecessary scene or character, no single miss of intonation. This is a long film - almost two hours - and during all this time it never makes you feel bored or sad. And this is exactly the kind of magic we expect Guy Ritchie to cast on us, right? The only downside i could find in this film is that its main twist was sorta taken from another British crime comedy, Layer Cake, a film that tries its best to look as if it was made by Ritchie, but it isn't. It's not that much of a disappointment, since these movies are totally different in all the other details and the overall delivery, but it kinda undermines the creative genius of Guy Ritchie who, given four years between these two films, could've come up with some other equally fitting trick from up his sleeve.Other than that, RocknRolla is the best i have seen from Guy Ritchie so far, and probably the best criminal comedy there is. Perfectly polished, perfectly balanced and perfectly delivered. And it's simply too bad that Butler, Elba, Hardy and the other principal actors don't see it fit for themselves to take on the sequel that was promised. Because nothing they have done ever since is even close in either style or substance to RocknRolla (Hardy's Warrior is the exception that only proves the rule), and it's simply unfair to make the fans wait for so long.