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RocknRolla

RocknRolla

Movie · 2008 · 15 people

Guy Ritchie wrote and directed RocknRolla, a 2008 crime comedy set in London's underworld. Seen as a return to the style of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, it weaves a crowded story around a London where property has replaced drugs as the big money. It runs about 114 minutes.

At its centre is Lenny Cole, an old-school gangster who has long run the city's rackets, played by Tom Wilkinson. While arranging a building permit for a Russian oligarch, he crosses paths with a small crew called the Wild Bunch. Gerard Butler plays One Two, Mark Strong is Archie and Thandiwe Newton is Stella. Tom Hardy, Toby Kebbell and Idris Elba also appear, and Dragan Mićanović has a small role. When Lenny's presumed-dead stepson, the drug-addicted rock star Johnny Quid, resurfaces, a multimillion-dollar deal unexpectedly turns in his favour.

It was Ritchie's fifth film, made with producer Joel Silver. Shooting began in June 2007 and lasted six weeks, mostly in London. It premiered in Toronto on 4 September 2008 and opened in the UK the next day, topping the box office in its first week. Reviews were mixed, and the last scene hints at a possible sequel.

DirectorGuy Ritchie
Production companyWarner Bros.

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Cast

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Idris Elba Idris Elba Actor · 54 years old Dragan Mićanović Actor · 56 years old Gerard Butler Tom Wilkinson Mark Strong Toby Kebbell Tom Hardy Karel Roden Thandiwe Newton Ludacris Jeremy Piven Jimi Mistry Gemma Arterton Jamie Campbell Bower Matt King

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Through different eyes

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

Ritchie heads back to London's underworld, where an old-school gangster, a Russian oligarch, a small crew and a vanished rock star all cross paths around one big deal. The energy is high and the characters are colourful. But be warned: this is not a shoot-out film, it is a crime comedy built on schemes. The story branches out so much that the pace sometimes gets buried under the crowd.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

RocknRolla was seen as a return to the line of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, which is both its appeal and its problem. Ritchie's braided storytelling, with many characters glancing off one another and a plot that turns on a pile of money, is no longer a surprise but a signature. The film applies that signature with ease yet struggles to add anything to it; the crowded story leaves the characters little room to deepen. The mixed reviews can be put down to that sense of repetition. Still, the figure of Lenny Cole, an old-school gangster left facing a changing city, gives the film a centre of gravity that sets it apart from the earlier work, and in my view he is its most interesting idea.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film's sharpest idea is to centre on a moment when big money in London came from property rather than drugs. An old-school gangster trying to fix a building permit for a Russian oligarch looks like a symbol of a city changing hands. The shift from neighbourhood rackets to land deals with foreign capital offers a satirical observation on how real estate became a seat of power in 2000s London. The film does this with the lightness of a crime comedy, so do not expect sociological depth, but as a snapshot of the spirit of its time it is intriguing.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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