From today's Oregonian....
"RocknRolla" represents a creative retreat for writer/director Guy Ritchie -- thank God. After leaving a fat bootprint in British crime cinema with his caper comedies "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch," Ritchie seemingly lost his fool mind: He remade "Swept Away" with wife Madonna and mixed gangsterism and mysticism in the incoherent train wreck "Revolver." His audience pointed, laughed and left.
And so Ritchie's playing it safe, smart and old-school with "RocknRolla" -- once again spinning a complicated, funny yarn full of London lowlifes with vivid nicknames crossing paths over a MacGuffin. This time, the antique guns from "Lock, Stock" and the giant diamond from "Snatch" are replaced by a lucky painting. The artwork (which we never get to see) repeatedly changes owners during a bloody London real-estate war that draws in a rock-star junkie (Toby Kebbell), an aging fixer (Tom Wilkinson), a luckless tough guy (Gerard Butler), a Russian billionaire (Karel Roden) and a frosty accountant (Thandie Newton).
The story lacks the raw energy of Ritchie's late-'90s debut -- paintings and real estate ain't guns and diamonds, no matter how much blood you spill. But the movie's still marked by tight pacing, visual wit and a couple of giddy set pieces (particularly one where Butler can't shake two indestructible Russian thugs). Yes, Ritchie risks falling into a rut here, but it's still an entertaining, cleverly crafted rut.
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B; 114 minutes; rated R for pervasive language, violence, drug use and brief sexuality.
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