RocknRolla Staff Review
Guy Richie, the director and creator of such cult classics as
Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and
Snatch, is back with his latest London underground film, Rocknrolla
I own this town. But owning is getting expensive for old-school London gangster Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson). A wealthier foreign mob is moving in with a riverfront property swindle. A small-timer (Gerard Butler) and his crew think they can play both sides and become big time. Now add a hard-as-ice accountant (Thandie Newton), a rocker playing dead to boost sales, wannabe music moguls (Jeremy Piven and Chris Bridges), a missing painting and a mad mosh of money and muscle, and you have got a real RocknRolla. From Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch), comes a fierce and funny caper, a smash-mouth cinematic smackdown of sexthugs & rock'n'roll.
One of the basic premises of the film is that land is a commodity that never goes down in price and is a good investment. However, given the state of the 2009 economy, the premise of the film actually takes it immediately out of reality.
The characters are likeable enough with Gerald Butler easily coming out as the strongest presence of the film. The rest of the cast plays their parts well, however, the ensemble cast is not as strong as previous effects by Mr. Richite. They just do not possess the same chemistry on–screen as previous casting did in other films.
The video itself is pristine with great color saturation and no digital artifacting. The audio is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and is crip, sharp, and does not disappoint. The only part of the blu-ray that was lacking was the special features; there was a few documentaries into the making of the film, a deleted scene, and a digital copy of the film to take with you on the rode.
One could easily argue that Warner Bros. is simply waiting to see how sales are on the normal edition Blu-ray before releasing a Blu-ray with a full blown set of special features for the film on a second disk and the addition of BD Live.
All in all Rock'n'Rolla is a great escape into the London underground mob scene, however, it really only is a taste of the true work Guy Richie can really accomplish; for this you need to watch such classics as Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.
Until then you will just be a Rock'n'Rolla.
--Nathan M Rose
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