~Review: RocknRolla~

It should be noted that it is very, very rare that I feel compelled to write a review of something less than 20 minutes after I see it, but I'm so glad that I feel this way after watching Guy Ritchie's new "Norf Lon-don" gangster flick, RocknRolla. I was pleasantly surprised to leave the theater with a broad grin on my face, and thinking that the rest of my soon-to-be extremely busy night would be less of a pain in the arse because I'd just seen the best movie I had in a long time (probably the best action flick since The Dark Knight, actually). To be perfectly honest, I'd rate RocknRolla a bit higher than the latest Batman epic, and please, before you show up on my doorstep to lynch me for witchcraft and heresy, I will be explaining my reasoning.

The first thing I noticed about RocknRolla, which I actually noticed during the opening credits, was that the film has an undeniable sense of "cool;" a really fun and visceral sense of style that I found impossible to dislike. All of the lines are very sharp, the light glaring, but in a good way. The whole experience felt like a very dressed-up pulp comic, and I do mean that in the very best possible way. The film's look is a very jarring in that it gives the viewer a lot to see without confusing them, but forcing them to pay very close attention to the scene. Even the colors found in each scene were used to great effect, as they are pretty vivid without being gaudy or oversaturated. What also adds to the great look of the film is the outstanding direction; I have been a long-time follower of Mr. Ritchie's films, and over the years, he has made a lot of strange directorial choices, but RocknRolla was refreshing for a fan like myself because it makes it clear that the director has absolutely matured in his sensibilities and style.

One point I'd like to emphasize about this film is that the acting is pitch-perfect, basically across the board. I'm one of those people who has an inexplicable memory for actors, and I was pleased to see a good balance of big names (talented big names, mind you) and unknowns. Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, Tom Wilkinson, and Mark Strong stand out as a few of these, but the actor I was really fascinated by was Toby Kebbell, playing the titular whacked-out, cracked-out "rock n' rolla" Johnny Quid. Now, I was amused by the soundbites I heard from Mr. Kebbell on the film's trailer, but when I saw the film in full, I was amazed to see not simply a goofy comedy-relief character from him, but a deeply interesting and empathetic one. The humor is undeniably there, but when listening to Kebbell/Quid soliloquize about the dual nature of a human personality in terms of a pack of cigarettes, I was amazed in that I was so drawn in by the character. This would be hard to do with any other actor, as the scene itself was intercut with a completely different scene, but it happened nonetheless. It is these interesting characters that make up a lot of the cast of RocknRolla, with the exception of a few of the more minor characters (Roman and Mickey, played by the wonderful Jeremy Piven and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) and Lenny Cole's (Wilkinson's) band of merry thugs. The one main character I was put off by immediately was that of Stella, played by Thandie Newton, who has as much ability to empathize, and if not empathize then at least become interesting to, with the audience as a cardboard box. The character, who by all rights should have had at least one redeeming quality, is utterly one-dimensional and uninteresting, though whether this is the fault of bad writing or bad acting is at this point anyone's guess.

Now the writing, as is to be expected from Mr. Ritchie, is compelling, funny, and full of North London slang. There are a few spots where the writing falters, sure, but these are hardly noticed, as the film is so hard-charging and dynamic that one hardly has time to notice or care. It's that instance of "Oh, well that was a bit weak, now wasn't- Ooo! What's happening now?" that comes up from time to time in Mr. Ritchie's films, but from a writer's perspective, a fairly strong job all around.

All in all, RocknRolla is a very clean, efficient and well-oiled machine, both highly entertaining and perversely affecting. Don't listen to what Roger Ebert says, the prick; just because you've seen every movie there is doesn't mean you know the first thing about them. This latest product of Guy Ritchie's imagination is a hard bastard, but a winner, and don't let yourself go too long without seeing it. You won't be disappointed. Promise.