Ladies and gentlemen Guy Ritchie is back on form. Right from the begging of RockNRolla you know he’s got his groove back, and he transports us back to the days of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Of course, London has changed and the Russians are moving in, but that doesn’t worry Lenny Cole. You see Lenny runs London, and without him, nothing happens. So Lenny is looking at the biggest payday of his illustrious career.
But then a painting gets stolen, the couriers bringing in the bribe money get done over and Guy Ritchie weaves his magical twisting and turning storylines into an action packed, darkly humorous feast for your eyes, ears and brain.
I have to mention a couple of stand out things about RockNRolla, the first being the opening credits – the urban style animation and thumping rock music overlay certainly does the job of getting you amped for what’s to come, whilst keeping with the gritty urban feel that is essential for a Guy Ritchie British gangster film.
Sex is always a touchy subject in movies, and with a movie such as RockNRolla, a gratuitous sex scene wouldn’t look out of place. But slow motion nudity with a rock soundtrack would be too easy, and not entirely fitting with Guy Ritchie’s style, but being realistic he does throw in a sex scene between the main stars, but he does it in a brilliantly, originally and outrageously funny way. All I can say is that with a handful of quick, efficient cuts Guy Ritchie manages to let you know exactly what was done, with out showing you any sex or nudity and almost making you fall out of your seat with laughter.
And that’s one of the great things about RockNRolla; nothing is wasted, every scene is meticulously shot, edited and spliced together. The movie never gets boring, never has a lack of action or lack of laughs, but at the same time never overwhelms you either.
RockNRolla also manages to weave some subtle moral tales into it’s plot – granted most people will probably miss these subtleties – but I don’t want to get into them here, as I would have to put in a warning about plot spoilers. What I will say is that if you like your action, you don’t mind a bit of blood and guts and you find black humour, well, funny, then RockNRolla is the movie for you.
Reviewed by: Jonathan Read.
Rating: R16 – Contains violence, offensive language and drug use.
Duration: 114 mins.
Genre: Action, Crime.
Director: Guy Ritchie.
Actors: Gerard Butler, Gemma Arterton, Jeremy Piven, Thandie Newton, Tom Wilkinson, Ludacris.
