RocknRolla - mini-review

I saw this film over the weekend with a group of girlfriends. Not all of us knew what we were in for. A girly pic this ain't, and it oozes with testosterone like Guy Ritchie's other gangster pics, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. It has the some of the same elements: British underworld, fast editing, impossibly large cast, but thankfully this time a woman in a prominent part. I love Thandie Newton's accountant character. She's cool and professional, but likes a bit of danger, which she seeks in Gerry Butler's One Two. Her eye rolls at his "dancing" had me howling.

Tom Wilkinson plays the lead gangster, and he looks like he had a ball. He's so often the retiring gentle man character, that it was just fun to see him be so bombastic. The standout new face for me was Toby Kebbell as Johnny Quid, the RocknRolla junkie. He has quite the presence, and since Guy is planning a trilogy if RocknRolla does well, the last scene of the movie hints that he'll have a big part in the sequel.

Of course, Gerard Butler was the best part of the movie for me. Finally, finally, he gets to show some of that humor of his in an action flick. Besides his hilarious dancing, I loved the scenes with his gay best pal. One Two (Gerry) thinks his friend is going to prison, and gives him a favor that last night. "So, what did you want to do to me?"

The serpentine plot is hard but not impossible to follow. It's typical complicated Ritchie. I liked Lock Stock and Snatch, and this is like them, so I like it, too. It didn't seem to have quite the same laugh out loud bits like Brad Pitt's accent in Snatch. Maybe some of the English humour went over my head. There were tons of little throw off moments that have me chuckling thinking of them even now, like the huge black gangster Tank who likes to watch English dramas like The Remains of the Day on DVD in his car!

Seeing what Guy Ritchie will do with Sherlock Holmes will be very interesting. Can he find success outside the modern London gangster world? I give RocknRolla three and a half stars. I certainly enjoyed it much more than a few of my girlfriends who I think thought we were seeing more of a chick flick!