RockNRolla (Cert 18)
Reviewed by Mickey Mcmonagle
After his hilarious and brilliant debut Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and the not-bad Snatch, things went downhill for Guy Ritchie with the awful Swept Away and Revolver.
But his latest effort shows he is back on the road to respectability, although has not yet returned to the top of his game.
A superb cast including Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Idris Elba and new Bond girl Gemma Arterton - and thankfully not Ritchie's wife Madonna - star in another tale of gangsters, guns and missing money in London's underworld.
A dodgy Russian billionaire holds meetings in his box at a top football club. His money and lucky painting are at the centre of the plot as gangster Lenny (Wilkinson) does a big property deal with him and safeguards his picture for him.
Of course the money is promptly nicked by small-time crook OneTwo (Butler,who loves every minute of his role) and at this point things get very complicated - unnecessarily so.
There are a lot of loose ends towards the close of the film,which lends weight to the rumours this is the first chapter in a trilogy.
But that's no bad thing because I'm interested to see just how much better Ritchie will get as he continues the series.
