Anticipating RocknRolla, Ritchie

Guy Ritchie Brings Gerard Butler and Jeremy Piven to Crime

Jun 6, 2008

Guy Ritchie has finally gotten around to making another film in the vein of Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.

Guy Ritchie hasn’t returned to the chatty gangster flick sub-genre he perfected with Snatch since the release of that minor classic. There are a number of reasons to expect him to deliver with his first full-on crime picture since 2000.

Guy Ritchie Loves Crime Movies

Anyone who saw Revolver knew it was a bit of a mess, pretentious and dull, but still snuck in some nuggets of Richie’s crime movie genius. From Mark Strong’s strange character Sorter, a nerdy-looking assassin with an intermittent perfect shot, to a restaurant assassination scene with a clever under-the-table shooting, Richie seemingly couldn’t help but inject some of his signature clever crime touches into Revolver. Imagine how many ideas and lines of dialogue and camera tricks Ritchie has in his mind after eight years on hiatus from straightforward felony films.

Ritchie is quoted in Film Review as saying about the film, “There’s not so much cerebral stuff. It’s fun. It’s kind of a commentary on how London is now and it’s all to do with Russian oligarchs [messing] up the city.” So for those who saw the psychological lecture that was Revolver, feel free to sigh in relief.

It’s not hyperbole to say the cast of RocknRolla is absolutely top-notch. The cast of RocknRolla includes Gerard Butler, Jeremy Piven, Thandie Newton, Tom Wilkinson, Idris Elba, Mark Strong, and Ludacris (Seriously? Ludacris? Yeah). Imagine Entourage’s Ari Gold (Piven) spitting out Ritchie’s famously clever, coarse dialogue. Imagine 300’s Gerard Butler growling vicious threats. Imagine Stringer Bell from HBO’s The Wire (Elba) calmly dressing down someone in one of Ritchie’s devastatingly condescending monologues.

So far it appears Madonna will not be appearing in RocknRolla. This should also elicit sighs of relief from critics and fans who saw Swept Away, Ritchie’s previous film starring his wife, Madonna. That film holds a 5% rating on critic tracker rottentomatoes.com. It didn’t even make a million dollars worldwide, theatrically. It was arguably the worst film of Ritchie’s entire career.

It's been eight long years since Snatch. Long enough that Ritchie's crime time moves won't feel derivative or stale. It should also be interesting to see if he can bring any new quirks to his formula, considering Snatch was basically a more polished version of Ritchie's earlier film, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. RocknRolla is currently scheduled for domestic release October 31st, 2008. Get excited.

The copyright of the article Anticipating RocknRolla, Ritchie in Action Films is owned by Dan Benamor. Permission to republish Anticipating RocknRolla, Ritchie in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.