No Mockney's In This Malarkey (Rocknrolla (DVD))

Member Name: sdean

Product:	Rocknrolla (DVD)
Date:	15/04/09 (102 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good casting, and great characters

Disadvantages: Not as humorous as it could have been

RocknRolla is 'the' 2008 crime film, written, directed and produced by the original gangsta (with a posh accent) Guy Ritchie. Narrated throughout by Mark Strong, it has a host of British talent, with a couple of names from across the pond.

~Characters~

Gerard Butler - One Two
Tom Wilkinson - Lenny Cole
Thandie Newton - Stella
Mark Strong - Archy
Idris Elba - Mumbles
Jimi Mistry- Councillor
Ludacris - Mickey
Jeremy Piven- Roman

~Plot~
Lenny Cole is the crime boss of London, he's the man in London and won't let you forget it. He runs all the property market and London's underworld. Lenny's second in command and the narrator of the movie is Archy. Uri Omovich is a wealthy Russian who needs planning permission very quickly for a stadium, this, going through the proper channels could take years. However, Lenny's connections to a greedy councillor can get him that planning permission very quickly. For a fee - a £7 million fee. Uri's accountant, the beautiful, yet dangerous Stella is instructed to transfer the money from his accounts where it will be collected and given to Lenny. Stella has other ideas and recruits One Two and Mumbles to steal the money, for her 20% fee.
Undeterred, Uri tries again, for the money to be stolen yet again. This time the guardians of the money are not a couple of normal accountants, they are hard as nails Russians, who will not die. They chase One Two, Mumbles and Handsome Bob, who has been recruited to drive for them as he didn't get sent to prison like they all thought he would.
Eventually the boys lose the Russians. Uri is suspicious of Lenny and demands he get the 'lucky painting' back that he loaned to Lenny at the start of the deal. Except, Lenny has a rock star junkie step son, Johnny, who has mysteriously vanished, presumed dead. The painting has also mysteriously vanished. Uri grows more suspicious and has Lenny beaten up on the golf course.

The hunt is on, to find Johnny before Uri knows his painting has gone. To get extra help Lenny and Archy enlist the help of Johnny's record producers Roman and Mickey to find him, otherwise their London clubs will be closed and licenses revoked. They deliver Johnny to Archy, this finds them all in a disused warehouse. Lenny finds out that One Two, Mumbles and Handsome Bob are the ones behind Uri's robberies and instructs Arcy to collect them all and bring them to the same warehouse.

Running through the movie is all the various criminals and their crimes and the prison time they received. They have information that the police have had an informant on them for years and they are trying to find out who this is that keeps getting them all sent away, someone that is close to the crew. Handsome Bob has this information which he gives over to Archy, resulting in a brilliant ending.


~Conclusion~

I wasn't expecting too much from this movie as I had heard mixed reviews. With an open mind I sat down to watch and I was pleasantly surprised.
The characters names and personalities in this movie are excellent. Typical of Ritchie it is a fast moving story. The audience is helped along by Mark Strong as Archy narrating the complex scenes, making sure we understand who is who, what is going on and to fill in the gaps. There are a lot of characters in this movie and it would be difficult to keep up without any narration. Some characters are unnecessary and there are a fair few ex Grange Hill people in there too. The scenes are all London based and show a seedy underworld with sleezy characters taking what they want when they want.

The story on the whole was great. Characters and casting was brilliant. Archy being a favourite of mine along with the glamour and class of Stella. We also see Jeremy Piven playing a different type of character, much more understated than his 'Entourage' style. We also see Stringer Bell from The Wire, back to his roots (as he is a Brit after all!).

The filming was typical of Snatch and the sets seem to fit in with either the opulence or grime of the character. I think the reason I liked it was that it was more like his two 'great films' Lock Stock and Snatch, rather than the truly awful 'Revolver' or god forbid Swept Away. But possibly without the humour and witty one liners and Brad Pitt with a funny accent. He does seem to have got back on the Gangster bandwagon he loves so much (pity he's a Hertfordshire boy!)and no Mockney's !!

Summary: Good movie, not as bad as some reviews said !