RocknRolla - B-

On DVD (2008). Rated R, 101 minutes. Trailer.

Written and Directed by Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch), the Trailer for RocknRolla looked good enough for me to renounce my previous ban on his films (as a result of the soulcrushing Revolver). Without doing anything (and I mean ANYTHING) new, the film still has enough to keep me mildly entertained and at least one interesting and cool character. The film rehashes the plots and characters from Layer Cake and the other UK caper films (Lock, Stock, Snatch, etc) so much it is hard to overcome in the first few minutes and not just turn it off. Click below for more on the film that exposes Gerard Butler as a terrible actor:

The film begins with narration from the smooth and detached Archy (Mark Strong), the right hand man of the venerable faux-posh underworld kingpin Lenny (Tom Wilkinson), describing the London real estate market and explaining the set up for the film: two guys (One Two and Mumbles) try to invest in property, but can't get proper loans. They go to Lenny for the loan and then are denied the proper zoning and have to give Lenny the land back - and they owe him an extra $2million. So, now they need money and an acquaintance, Thandie Newton, gives them a job to earn the money. They hang with a goofy band of underworld spooks and when their third member is added, they are called the Wild Bunch.

Meanwhile, Lenny is selling his 'connections' to help get a rezoning through for a Russian billionaire - the money to be paid to Lenny by the Russian is the money stolen (twice) by the Wild Bunch. Along the way, a loaned painting gets passed around and ends up in the hands of Johnny Quid, the real RocknRolla (a hellraiser with no limits) and the hated stepson of Lenny. The films resolves with a 'reveal' that isn't shocking or all that interesting.

Johnny is the best part of the film, and he single-handedly moves it from a C to a B-. He is a junkie and is a highly educated sociopath - he looks like Steve-O, Travis Bickle and Sid Vicious all rolled into one. His unpredictability, intelligence and violence are all interesting and fun to watch. Mark Strong is the second best part, continuing a run of quality roles in Syriana and Body of Lies(and the only good thing about Revolver). Gerard Butler is "One Two" and blows scene after scene (mostly the Handsome Bob 'closet' scene), with both overacting and completely misinterpreting the scene. Mercury Piven and Ludacris are wasted in dumb, one dimensional roles as club owners, and Tom Wilkinson cashes a check for a character that is virtually indistinguishable from the same role in Layer Cake.

There were some cool stylistic points in the film and I enjoyed the second robbery and subsequent chase scene with the wild bunch. 2/3 of the way through this was careening toward a C-, but it pulled the landing okay and added much more Johnny, ending up at a B-. Not a favorite of Bride's, who rolled her eyes every time she walked through and saw the screen.