RocknRolla (2008)

Written by CinemaSerf on March 27, 2022

I really enjoyed this. A great ensemble cast delivering a gangster thriller that pokes it's tongue out at just about everything/body whilst still retaining enough menace to keep it engaging. As ever with Ritchie films, it does run a bit to dialogue - and this one has an, at times, irritating narrative. Tom Wilkinson ("Lenny") is quite good as the mob boss who facilitates - and takes a cut from - most big property transactions in London; and he makes a good living from it. A Russian oligarch arrives on the scene and engages Lenny, and his slimy but ruthless sidekick "Archy" (Mark Strong) to help his with a fairly mammoth development. At this stage it all starts to go a bit pear shaped and we slowly become aware that there is much more afoot. There are several fun subplots with Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy and Thandie Newton all having some skin in at least part of the game; and Toby Kebbell is cracking as his dead-loss, rockstar, coke-head son "Johnny Quid". The writing is taut and humorous, and the violence much more "fantasy" and implied - even kinky, on occasion, than gory. The whole thing is a thoroughly entertaining piece of cinema - complete with killer lobsters and the smallest of cameos from Hugh Grant!