Mikes Film Talk

RocknRolla (2008) is Guy Ritchie’s Ode to both New and Old London. Guy started out by making homages to London and he still dips that toe in for a revisit or three.

I adore Guy Ritchie’s films, even the ones that have been bashed by the media (that’s spelt critics by the way). I have done ever since hearing a “behind the scenes” tale from my old agent.

It goes something like this

“One of my other clients got cast in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. We were both very pleased. After he’d finished his bit he explained what was really shot versus what had been in the script.”

Lennie paused and shaking his head continued.

“The pages he had originally had a bit in the pub. It was around three pages long, about three minutes on screen roughly. It was all quite convoluted, a lot like rest of the film. Clever interaction between my client and the chaps in the pub.

It was meant to end with him getting a facefull of brandy and being set on fire. According to Lenny’s client, the budget was so tight that the scene kept getting smaller and smaller. It then became him being set on fire and running out of the pub!”

All this long apocryphal anecdote says, is that Guy did not let the lack of money stop his using an actor he’d hired for the scene. His vision, and the implied loyalty to his cast dictated that he keep at least part of the brandy scene in and he did. You have to admire that, just as one has to admire his lifelong love affair with London.

Thatcher’s England

Anyone who has been in London over the last 30 or so years can see just how much it has changed. Canary Wharf, the docklands, and South London to name a few locations stand out the most. They are very different from what they were in the early 80s. According to Ritchie, the film is partly about the property prices skyrocketing out of control. To the point where honest Brits have found themselves forced out of the market. This all rings true to those who lived in Britain over the last 30 years.

Maggie Thatcher’s “right to own” opened the floodgates in the housing market. The selling off of council houses left the door wide open for big money to own property.This leaves the little folks being slowly pushed out of the home owning equation. Ritchie’s film is not about Britain, however, it is about London

ritchie’s formula

He relies on the same formula used in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels as well as Snatch. RocknRolla has that same feel minus Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones. I admit I loved it despite his use of Tom Wilkinson as Lennie who should clearly have been played by Mike Reid (Snatch, Eastenders).

Having said that, the cast, including Wilkinson, were superb. Tom Hardy, Gerard Butler, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Thandie Newton all delivered. I was surprised to find that the comedic points in the film made me laugh as much as those in ‘Two Barrels’ did. The bit with Hardy, Butler, and later, Elba with the whole “he was going inside for 5 years” schtick had me in hysterics.

Toby Kebbell

The one actor who really went above and beyond was, of course, the brilliant Toby Kebbell. Only he could have pulled off the role of Johnny Quid with his various ups and downs. The actor had me in stitches in the lift scene with Archie (Strong) and his, “Don’t hurt me Archie! I’m only little!”

Kebbell is a dynamo and his timing and delivery in all his films is beyond impeccable. I would say that my only complaint, apart from the lack of Mike Reid, is that there should have been a lot more of Toby. While this should have been a #tbt review, I could not wait to write my thoughts down after watching the bargain basement blu-ray copy last night.

A 5 out of 5 stars and a good reminder that Guy Ritchie still has the chops despite a few misfires.

11 May 2015

Michael Knox-Smith