RocknRolla is a British crime film, written and directed by Guy Ritchie. It stars Gerard Butler, Mark Strong, Tom Wilkinson, and Thandie Newton. The film was released in Britain on September 5, 2009 and took the top spot at the box office. The film was not as widely released in the U.S. and Canada. The film follows the story of a London real estate gangster Lenny Cole (Wilkinson) and his dealings with a Russian gangster interested in entering the London real estate game. The Russian's accountant Stella (Newton) has other plans and hires a gang of criminals, known as the Wild Bunch, led by Mr. One-two (Butler) to help her out. The film is narrated by Archie (Strong), Lenny's right hand man. To complicate things the Russian lends Lenny his "lucky" painting which is in turn stolen by his estranged rock legend and crack-head son Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell). The plot is extremely twisted in typical Guy Ritchie fashion. In fact the whole film, from the very first monologue, is undoubtedly a Guy Ritchie film. The plot is extremely complicated, the characters are extremely hard to understand (no matter how high you turn the volume), the shots move in quick succession almost reminiscent of the Soviet Montage style and the film is full of subtle and some not so subtle comedic moments. The film met with mixed reviews. Critics are divided some claiming RocknRolla is "nothing special" and others claiming Guy Ritchie has "done it yet again". RocknRolla is certaintly not reinventing the wheel and will not stun people for its originality, but I believe it is one of Guy Ritchie's best films. He has created the comedic crime thriller and RocknRolla, in my opinion, is the perfected product. The soundtrack is excellent and the acting is suberb which is crucial for Ritchie's fast moving thrillers. All in all I really liked RocknRolla and see it as Guy Ritchie's best work to date. It is rumored that Ritchie plans to make RocknRolla into a trilogy and a slide in the credits claims "Johnny, Archie, and the Wild Bunch will be back in the Real Rock n Rolla". I certaintly hope so.
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