RocknRolla review

RockNRolla

Review by zulfi

            This one’s a movie for the buds. I mean, tuff guys and give-a-flying-f***ers. I have my doubts if ladies can enjoy this one. It’s the same with ‘snatch’ and ‘lock, stock’ too. Ritchie makes movies for us, buds. There is nothing of a great plot here. I mean build up is good but it is lost somewhere in the middle and is regrouped poorly at the end. It’s all about style and presentation. British underbelly is at play as always in Ritchie’s outings. This time it’s the turn of ruthless realtors, pen-pushing commissioners, traitorous middlemen, gritty Russians and term-serving henchmen. Well, Russian theme always runs for Ritchie.

            The contract business boss, Lenny Cole, not only swindles amateur foreigners, but even some of his own thugs from his immediate circle. He makes them subservient to him by growing debts and sending his faithful dog, Archie, onto them to batter their submission. If I go on mentioning the names, I would go singing praises for all. The main thing here is that the task is half done with a very formidable casting. Tom Wilkinson with his native dialect and with his cruel winces is permanently imposing. His strong native roots make him smug even while speaking with billionaire businessmen, as the latter are foreigners. But when Arch reminds him that even Lenny is not exactly in his home, there is tyrannical bitching about. Probably that’s how a criminal contractor exists. And you are convinced of that at a very early stage. It’s all because of the acting. Mark Strong as Arch is superb. Add a few more superlatives and I am still short of lauding him fully. He may even make the toughest of tough piss in their pants, but while at Lenny’s side he draws a line and observes. Mumbles and one-two, oh, what can I say about them. The tough Scottish drawl of Gerard Butler is a very big draw. With his hunky appearance, he does the rest of the job. Mumbles is my favorite. Idris Alba has a great screen presence. With his miserly words and with his talking eyes, he makes Butler look like his sidekick. Tom Hardy is seen in a few scenes and he plays it good. And now, coming to the junkie, the central pivot for the whole movie, Johnny Quid is a perfect spoil for the loose cannon. His lack of fear to the world in general and playing with the temper of Archie are established perfectly well. And there are a few hundred important characters that I need to mention, but I will judiciously skip them as life falls short on extolling everybody.

            Whatever you may say about Ritchie, there are two things that can’t be put past him. One is witty writing and construction of action set pieces. Dialogue flows as freely as it can. I watched the movie a few times only for the purpose of over piling wisecracks from each one of the cast. It jibes the other hard and tickles us well. Junkies talk as junkies do. They don’t let the others perforate their senses and it is shown with their wayward reasoning. Russians speak as sensible lot, back-biting the tyrannical natives. Henchmen gab as though their tongues are laden with wisecracks and are ready to be poured out to whoever comes across. If you are rude, you will be jibed and if you are polite, even more so. Ritchie knows how to make each of his character speak, never compromising on their nature.

            I don’t think there’s anybody now in this modern age, who can make action sequences as innovative as Ritchie. There is choreography and there is complex script writing even during the chases. Here, in this movie, there is less of his usual explosiveness and more of writing during these set pieces. But with the plot being so thin and with no proper direction and conclusion, it falls short of being a nice movie. Ritchie probably envisaged the great beginning and lost the whole track of the plat midway down. It’s lets one’s heart down to let such a well cast be wasted with a bad script. It’s a movie you can watch with no strong emphasis on storylines and to get lost in constant back talking of the characters. It’s a safe and wonderful exercise to forget the pains of a hard toiled day. That works for me. I just want to roll in my seat and giggle warmly. And don't miss that powerful techno filled intro.