RockNRolla

With wifey out Friday night, it was the perfect chance for me to see a film she'd hate. After a decent walk around the store, i stumbled across "RockNRolla". My buddy Gary had said it was solid, and I'd liked "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock...", so figured this was a can't miss. Or was it?

The film, like the others mentioned, is about a bunch of bandits who are all trying to pull something off and their stories gradually become intertwined. It revolves around Lenny (Tom Wilkinson, in his best role since "Rush Hour"), a shark who due to his connections decide what infrastructure projects go ahead. When a Russian offers $7million to get a stadium built quickly, Lenny finally meets his match. Throw in a precious painting, lots of cash, some junkies and small-time crooks and you have a recipe for disasters.

A great cast, most prominently led by Mark Strong as Archie (my favourite B grade actor of the 2000's) and Toby Kebbell as Johnny. Both these guys should have had more prominent roles and meatier dialogue. Sadly, the movie was relatively ho-hum with no great memorable scenes, except maybe the one where Handsome Bob asks a special request of OneTwo before his prison sentence. Akward but clever. A decent try but certainly two rungs below Ritchie's two great works.