A crooked real estate scam attracts the attention of London wide boys One Two and Mumbles (Gerald Butler and Idris Elba) and underworld boss Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson).
All are looking to get rich, none are looking to share. Toss in some psycho mobsters and a crack addicted former rock star and what have you got? A Guy Ritchie film of course.
This is hopefully a return to form for director Ritchie (a man who makes George Lucas look consistent). More along the lines of his classic caper Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels than the god awful Swept Away, Rocknrolla promises lots of gangster action, creative swearing and the delicious Thandie Newton puffing on a cigarillo.
They say:
Empire: “A kinetic, funny, well cast crime caper.”
Total Film: “Punchy, funny, criminal entertainment.”
Channel 4: “Just another day in the city for Guy Ritchie.”
We say:
Buddy male twosomes have been movie fodder for ninety years: Laurel and Hardy, Bob and Bing, Riggs and Murtaugh, etc, etc, but there have perhaps never been quite so many twosomes as in Rocknrolla.
Nearly every cockney geezer, immigrant heavy and junkie hoodlum parades around Guy Richie's London in a (supposedly heterosexual) twosome. It's as though he can only write dialogue, as colourful as it is, for two people. It's repartee as racquetball, and almost exclusively between two men. The women must have to practise their banter in front of a mirror.
Anyway, we digress. As to whether the film is any good or not - well, considering the positive advance word, it's with some disappointment that we can only report Rocknrolla is more of the same for fans of Ritchie and nothing new to convert his naysayers.
At a push he’s veering more towards Tarrantino, most conspicuously with a slipshod dance off between Thandie Newton and Gerald Butler, but really this is his most derivative and formulaic gangster flick yet.
The storybook voiceover is first on Ritchie's checklist to make an appearance (a split second in). Even with Mark Strong's relaxed delivery, this relentless explanation of every plot detail soon grows wearisome. We don't need this Jackonary for cronies.
If Ritchie had streamlined his approach just a little bit, he could have dumped this perfunctory device along with the chronically dated Blue Oyster gay bar jokes and stupid nicknames. Mumbles? Tank? Do us a favour - the only nicknames anyone gets these days are Fatso and Shortarse.
As per usual, he can draw some solid performances, particularly from Strong, Toby Kebbell as a rock star with a surprising future and the breezy Idris Elba. He can't write a solid part though. These actors really have to work hard to bring their characters to life - otherwise it's yet another perfunctory speech whispered from yet another guy in an open necked shirt and suit combo. We know it off by heart.
With so many similar crooks running in and out of the plot it's difficult to click with any of them. Only Kebbell and Strong have an interesting enough path to follow. Butler, the supposed star of the movie, is comparatively light on appearances. He and Elba get the odd knockabout moment, which mainly involves them being thumped or messing something up, then they toddle off again for ten minutes. They are amusingly inept however. The Chuckle Brothers could steal a briefcase full of cash with greater competency.
This comeback of sorts for Ritchie does prove one thing. He can handle a big scene. Even though he misjudges the symmetry of the overall piece, he moulds several important scenes with class and, every so often, with pathos.
Ritchie's Rocknrolla is a jumble, but a competent one, with tofu lite criminals, greedy scams and famous Brit faces galore. Plus a ten second screw and at least one good fight.
It is a shame that it's nothing more, though be grateful it's nothing less as there are sequels on the way. This is not the prophecy it may seem - watch Rocknrolla yourself and you'll see just how confident Ritchie is in his new venture, and, on the strength of Strong and Kibbell alone, we'll give him another chance to make it a success.
CAST
Gerard Butler
Tom Wilinson
Thandie Newton
Jeremy Piven
Toby Kebbell
DIRECTOR
Guy Ritchie
TIME
114 mins
POSTED...
Tue 9 Sep at 1:30pm
