Hola all. Massawyrm here.
When Harry and I first sat down to watch this, he leaned over and we began to talk about the negative reviews we’d been hearing from early screenings. Then he said “Yeah, but all the complaints seem to be that he’s just going back and doing his old stuff over again. And that stuff is kind of why I liked him to begin with.” I simply nodded and agreed. If anything, my long disappointment with Guy Richie was that he’d stopped doing his old stuff. With the one two punch of marrying megastar royalty and the loss of Matthew Vaughn as a producing partner (who left to make his own brilliant Brit gangster/comedy Layer Cake) Richie’s career sank to the dreadfully mediocre (and overly slammed simply for the sake of doing so) Swept Away and then even lower with the simply dreadful Revolver. The idea of Richie coming back to deliver a true to his roots gangster comedy is a thought that simple tickled and delighted me.
And Richie did not disappoint. RocknRolla is every bit as gritty, caustic and fun as his previous BGCs. While not as laugh out loud funny as the previous two, the film is equally as likable with a slew of great characters, some deliciously messed up situations and a through line you don’t see coming at all until the very end of the film. It’s not so much a twist as a slow realization that takes the film from simply being a random collection of cock-ups, snafus and double crosses into a carefully structured game of chess that only one person realizes is even being played. In fact, if this film has one overarching flaw, it is that in building to this absolutely killer ending, many might find themselves left behind by what feels like a completely random series of events and scenes meant only to mimic the kinds of sequences we saw in his previous films.
But make no mistake, Richie is back at the top of his game, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is exactly the same filmmaker he was when he first exploded onto the scene almost a decade ago. This thing is sharp, with a wry, entertaining wit that doesn’t go for cheap jokes – just likable ones. It is a solid, thoroughly entertaining ride that gives fans of the previous two films (and the short lived television series) exactly what they came to see.
That said, for those who feel like making another of these is simply Guy Richie repeating himself, they’re not wrong. Many of the same themes and archetypes are present – even down to the occasional specificity. There are low level goons who despite their character and street smarts make the occasional very stupid mistake. You’ve got a ruthless boss at the top of the food chain with a rather unique method of torture involving animals. And there are a slew of mid level characters caught up in the middle as pawns in a very large, confusing con job/robbery/power play. And while there are a few curveballs that differentiate this from his previous work, there aren’t nearly enough to dissuade those tired of this shtick from feeling like this is Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 3: Still Smokin’.
But Richie pulls in a fantastic cast that propels this soundly into the canon of his body of work. Tom Wilkenson is probably one of the most underrated actors working today – certainly getting the respect he deserves, but nowhere near the excitement every time he suits up for a new role. He kicks ass as the big boss in this film, proving to be a worthy adversary and a proper villain for our cast of lowlifes and miscreants. Gerard Butler does a great job of further separating himself from Leonidas and establishing himself as more than a six pack and a green screen. Here he plays the charming but ot-Nay oo-Tay ight-Bray member of the criminal gang inexplicably named The Wild Bunch. The only person mildly disappointing is Jeremy Piven who really isn’t given anything to do relative to his incredible talent. It’s one of those “We’re supposed to like him because he’s Jeremy Piven” roles as opposed to something you’d cast Piven in because it requires the manic energy he’s capable of summoning at will. He’s not bad or anything, just mildly miscast and underused.
Overall, however I found the film to be a fantastic addition to Richie’s resume, something I’ll no doubt enjoy a couple more times and ultimately proof that he is not lost to us like so many had begun to believe. He’s still got it. Madonna didn’t steal it, nor was it all the influence of Matthew Vaughn. Guy Richie’s back. And I hope to god he stays at this for a while. Because frankly, I can’t get enough of these things.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
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