We really thought Guy Ritchie’s “Rock N Rolla,” was going to bomb. Our man on the scene Mr. Snruff disliked it and we felt much the same. It was a total, predictable rehash of everything you’ve seen Ritchie do already, but nowhere near as fresh, entertaining, funny or clever. The crime caper was amusing in spots, but overall pretty forgettable. What’s worse the end just serves as a sort-of cliffhanger (not really though) that is supposed to jump off to the sequel that’s called, “The Real Rock N Rolla.”
At the end we were like, “Wtf? What a gip!” But the film seems to be getting solid reviews from seemingly easily entertained, less discerning critics.
The Associated press writes, “RocknRolla” spins a dense web of heists, betrayals, land schemes and political payoffs,” aka, it’s “Lock, Stock, & Two Snatch-like Rollas,” same shit, different day. Some people like more of the same. First Showing writes, “Guy Ritchie has done it again. RocknRolla is yet another Ritchie classic like we’ve seen twice before with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.” The Hollywood Reporter wildly called it, his “most accessible and enjoyable film yet.”
Even Variety liked it, seemingly content to eat more of the same Marmite or lard on toast (whatever you want to call that disgusting shit that the British eat).
“After shipwrecking with ‘Swept Away’ and misfiring with ‘Revolver,’ Brit filmmaker Guy Ritchie bounces back to top form with ‘RocknRolla,’ a cleverly constructed, sensationally stylish and often darkly hilarious seriocomic caper.”
There are a few voices of reason that agree with us thankfully. As InContention notes, the U.K. press generally gave the film a frosty reception (it’s nice to see them use critical faculties and not just back their homeboy; the Guardian gave it a one-star review), and they personally didn’t like the film either, writing rather adroitly, “the whole enterprise, shorn of these initial stylistic tics, steadily falls apart. Ritchie has dialed down his style of story construction since the incomprehensibly convoluted ‘Revolver,’ but he may have overcompensated — the size of the ensemble notwithstanding, there is really very little storytelling motor here.”
Contention does a great job of noting the schisms across the pond, with the U.S. generally delivering positive reviews and the U.K. turning up their noses at the film’s redundant and contrived plot maneuvers.
This makes Warner Bros. chief Alan Horn’s comments all the more ironic considering he said only a few short weeks ago that the film was “too British” and he was hoping to sell it off to a new studio (though it remains to be seen if widespread American audiences will connect with it the same way, U.S. press did). We think in many ways, the Yanks were just starved for a half-way decent Guy Ritchie film to be honest.
Lastly, we didn’t realize Ludacris and Jeremy Piven’s characters in the film – two suave music managers – were based on Andre 3000 and Big Boi of Outkast. 3000 obviously worked with Ritchie on an ever more bland and convoluted crime film, “Revolver.”
