DVD Reviews

RocknRolla – Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Feb 4, 2009, 20:10 GMT

“You should’ve drown the cat instead of letting it out of the bag.”

When I heard that Sherlock Holmes was the subject of a new film I got excited. When I heard that Guy Ritchie was directing I was wary. Now that I’ve seen RocknRolla, I’m still a bit wary, but since I had a damn fine time with this flick I’m willing to give Ritchie a chance… sorta. Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson) considers London his domain as he controls the UK underworld. If you want something done in old London town you need to get Lenny on your side. That’s why the Russian Uri Omovich (Karel Roden) has come to pay off Lenny to help him build a new stadium in London.

Lenny’s right hand man is Archie (Mark Strong) and he’s the muscle behind Lenny’s conniving. The Russians notify their accountant Stella (Thandie Newton) to get the payoff money, seven million pounds, that Lenny requires to make sure that the job gets taken care of. To ingratiate himself with Lenny Uri lends him his lucky painting. What no one knows is that Stella’s hobbies demand some cash infusions as well. She notifies petty mobster One Two (Gerard Butler) of when the cash is supposed to be transported through town so that he and his mates Mumbles (Idris Elba) and Handsome Bob (Tom Hardy) can nick the cash. One Two and his gang are in need of the cash because Lenny screwed them out of a deal and they owe him. Lenny also finds that the lucky painting in his keeping has been nicked by his dope-head, rocker stepson Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell), who has faked his own death (again). Since Uri is now having a spate of bad luck, thanks to One Two and gang who have to steal the money thanks to Lenny, he asks Lenny for the lucky painting back. Since Lenny doesn’t have it anymore and doesn’t know where it’s gone he sets Archie into action to turn the underworld upside down until the painting is found. This will set events into action that will leave many dead and some wondering if this particular painting is a lucky one or an unlucky one.

Okay, I’m still not sure that a period piece is Guy Richie’s cupa tea and I’ll judge Sherlock Holmes when I see it, but I had such a good time with RocknRolla that I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. RocknRolla does have a bita Tarantino to it but I found it a rousing good time. The Wiki mentions that Richie envisions a trilogy of films if this one does well. That reminded me a bit of the Godfather since the son (or stepson in this case) is set up to be the continuing character of RocknRolla. Toby Kebbell plays Johnny Quid with a deranged wisdom that’s a joy to behold. At first I wasn’t sure about the character but when he starts on his junkie Zen speeches I was delighted. Perhaps it’s all the London accents that give this gangster epic a feeling of style. There are certainly some comedic moments that I enjoyed. There’s a hilarious Tom and Jerry-ish chase scene involving two Russian thugs and One Two and the quickly cut sex scene that uses facial expressions was funny too. Acting is top notch and everyone has a good scene or two as our story progresses. The story is a bit convoluted as first but as time goes on we begin to see how all the tales of our gangsters come together and how all the ends tie up. There’s also another hint of Tarantino as we really never get a look at the McGuffin of a painting that flows through each of our characters stories. It was a smashing good time though.

RocknRolla is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.40:1) and looks marvelous. Special features are a bit on the slim side. First off we get a commentary with director Guy Ritchie and Mark Strong. The only special feature in standard definition is a 2 minute deleted scene and the rest are in high def. The 15 minute “Blokes, Birds, and Backhanders” is a making of and the 8 minute “Guy’s Town” looks at London. Disc two is a digital copy that you can download to your PC or portable device. I hope Guy doesn’t try and make Sherlock a RocknRolla, but I did like this tale of the London underworld. My enjoyment of the film did make me want to give him a chance with Holmes.

Mark Kebbell is also very fun as the mad Johnny Quid and I hope that Guy gets his trilogy off the ground and that the characters do return in the sequel promised by the end of the film. Fun stuff that. RocknRolla [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon. Visit the DVD database for more information.