Brash, bold, chaotic – and that’s just the location……
Guy Ritchie’s latest film RocknRolla, feels like it’s the third part in a trilogy of cockney-esque crime capers (see. Lock, Stock etc.) – and that’s no faint praise. Back in London again, the Wild Bunch – a loose group of small time conmen handsomely lead by One Two (Gerard Butler) – try to break into the property market by borrowing money from Lenny Cole. Lenny’s a well-connected local mobster (the excellent, slime-bally Tom Wilkinson) and of course he almost immediately double crosses them. At the same time, Lenny’s trying to play with the big boys by fixing another property problem for a new-monied, football-club-owning Russian gangster. Thandie Newton is the Russian’s suave but crooked accountant who gets the Wild Bunch to steal the Russian’s cash. In the meantime, there’s an odd and jarring subplot about a lucky painting and a rock star (suddenly, just when you think it’s the Wild Bunch, it turns out he’s the RocknRolla of the title) who happens to be Lenny’s step son. If anything, this is about the only time the convoluted plot kind of goes off its rails.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie: it’s funny, entertaining, and the intimidating, surreal, almost cartoon world the characters inhabit is palpable. Several London icons are featured heavily: the Barbican for one, and there’s a great scene at Wembley Stadium. The dvd has apparently has a featurette called Guy’s Town, which is all about the locations he chose, and actually there’s another London View from the former Mr. Madonna (well rid, mate) at CNN: My City My Life.