RocknRolla

A film about London’s crime-driven underworld. Crime boss Lenny is working a real estate deal with a big-time Russian mobster. Lenny controls London and thinks he is untouchable, but the Russian proves him wrong. The Russian loans Lenny a painting for luck and Lenny’s step-son steals it, even though he’s supposed to be dead. Lenny sets all of his toadies on the case and they try to track it down. In the meantime, Stella is an underhanded but talented accountant and working the books for the Russian while skimming some of the Russian’s money to The Wild Bunch, a smaller crime ring. The deal is on the verge of breaking down, and there’s all kinds of knee-breaking, torture, double-crossing, and shooting. The Russian blows a gasket and sends in these two Russian killing machines to track down the money Stella has been skimming. A ton of people end up at Lenny’s warehouse at the end of the movie for a plot twisting show down. Sound confusing? It’s actually not, and it flows well.
The film has a lot of action in it, as well as a lot of campy British humor. The acting is quite believable and you actually find yourself rooting for bad guys, which you don’t always get to do (well, maybe you do in Guy Ritchie’s films). I read a review about this film that said it completely lacked the passion and purpose of Guy Ritchie’s previous film, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Having seen both, I would agree. It’s not that it’s dead pan, but LSA2SB is fun and exciting and hilarious, and RNR is more matter-of-fact. Maybe there’s too much plot twisting and things to follow in this one. It’s a good film, but it’s considerably slower than LSA2SB – just a warning.