Guy Ritchie isn’t the sort of director who is going to deliver a blistering insight into the human psyche or a fierce attack on society’s socio-political issues. RocknRolla matches that assumption, being typically unpretentious fare in which men are devious double hard bastards and women are gorgeous but, of course, still devious.
The plot is ludicrously convoluted in order to create an illusion of complexity, but it boils down to one simple issue; a Russian mobster heads a highly lucrative property scam in London but soon finds that all manner of dodgy folks – from accountants to old school Cockney gang members – are after a cut of the action. Ritchie runs this standard A to Z synopsis through a labyrinthian trail of mini twists to a diverse selection of London backdrops, but can’t disguise that this process doesn’t give this paper thin concept any additional substance.
The performances are universally decent, especially from the underrated Toby Kebbell as a fading junkie rock star and from Matt King who, just like in his role as Peep Show’s Super Hans, gets all the best one-liners and plays pretty much the same character. But as a whole the cast are undermined by their characters who almost without exception are the sort of broadly drawn caricatures that an outsider would paint by way of stereotyping. If Gerard Butler’s One Two had owned a fluffy ginger kitten, you’d expect him to be his neighbourhood’s feline bully, plotting to swipe an illicit consignment of catnip from under the noses of the Russian street cats.
It’s not that RocknRolla is unwatchable by any means. It possesses a comfortable familiarity to British drama of days gone by (it’s easy to draw parallels with everything from Ealing comedies to Only Fools and Horses) and enough contemporary punch to ensure its relevancy. It even boasts one undeniably spectacular set piece that could be considered a brilliant parody of one of Terminator 2’s most infamous scenes. But, by the same measure, an attempt to tackle homosexuality in a macho male world is at best mildly comical and at worst just plain dumb.
RocknRolla is undeniably attention grabbing and, more often than not, an entertaining ride. But as the final credit rolls and the realisation that no underlying depth has been established, it’s hard to see any purpose in it beyond flashy eye candy.
