DVD
REVIEW: ROCKNROLLA
01/24/09
When I first sat down to
watch Guy Ritchie’s RockNRolla, I was bored ten minutes in.
First off, too many characters get introduced too quickly;
add to this the thick British accent, the convoluted plot
that only adds to the confusion and you end up with,
disinterest. However, around the 45 minute mark, what we
might call the second half of the movie, RockNRolla got a
whole lot better. The dialog got wittier, the characters
more interesting, even the plot began to make sense. The
final result was a notably entertaining movie.
Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson) is the crime lord who has his
hands in everything. Uri is a Russian developer who wants to
make a deal and therefore goes to Lenny to grease the wheels
of government. Uri, lends Lenny his lucky painting until the
deal is done. However, the painting is soon stolen by
Lenny’s stepson Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell). Uri has even
more problems when the money he is securing, to pay Lenny,
through his accountant Stella (Thandie Newton) keeps getting
stolen. The source of the thief is a gang known as The Wild
Bunch which includes One Two(Gerard Butler), Mumbles(Idris
Elba) and Handsome Bob(Tom Hardy).
The cast of this movie is amazing. Tom Wilkinson, Toby
Kebbell and Gerard Butler give great performances. I was
specially surprised with Toby Kebbell performance. This is
the first time I’ve seen him in a movie and I hope to see a
lot more of him in other films. While some would say that
Guy Ritchie’s gangster world is lacking in reality, I like
Ritchie’s fantastical take on this world and the witty
dialog he writes.
The couple of action scenes are also exciting and the movie
managed keep things interesting until the end. The only bad
thing is that a lot of us have seen Ritchie do this sort of
thing before in movies like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking
Barrels and Snatch. I would probably rate this move as a
close third compared to the other two. Therefore, if you
enjoyed either Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or
Snatch, you’ll probably enjoy RockNRolla.
Warner Bros is releasing the two disc special edition DVD
which includes one deleted scene, an eight minute feature on
shooting in London and a commentary track with Guy Ritchie
and Actor Mark Strong (Archie). The second disc includes a
digital copy of the movie to play on either Windows Media
Player or iTunes.
As part of the DVD
promotion Warner have created the site
www.rocknrollascopes.com. In this website you
can enter your information, and get your horoscope in truly
RocknRolla style
Review
By Brad Peterson
brad@smartcine.com
VIDEO:
Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1)
AUDIO:
English (SDH),
French, Spanish
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Commentary By Director Guy Ritchie and Actor Mark
Strong (Archie)
Guy's Town: The director and cast discuss shooting in London
(8:33)
Deleted Scene:
Will You Put The Cigarette Out? - Shows
One-Two working out and Mumbles explaining that running in
the treadmill means he is running from himself. Ironically,
One-Two is running while breathing in a cloud of cigarette
smoke. (2:00)
Digital Copy of RockNRolla. Plays on either
Windows Media Player or iTunes
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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