Review of RocknRolla (2008) by Johnslegers — 03 Jan 2016

With "Revolver", Ritchie made one of the most intellectually profound movies ever. Unfortunately, this seemed to alienate most of his fans (who like him for his action comedies), making his best movie also his most despised movie.

With "RocknRolla", Ritchie returns to his roots. The problem with that is that this movie is not as fast-paced as it needed be, not as funny as it should be, nor as innovative as it could be and therewith totally felt lacking of anything worth grabbing my attention.

After being copied over and over by various directors during the early '00s, the style that made Ritchie famous gradually became repetitive and dull. While "Revolver" offered a whole new dimension to the genre by replacing most of the humor with philosophy and symbolism, "RocknRolla" felt like a rather soulless attempt in the exact opposite direction. It felt uninspired and rehashed, leaving me constantly longing for more.

The only thing this movie adds to his older work is a bit of fan service to his gay audience, which by no means added anything of value to the average straight guy. Watching this movie and his later Sherlock Holmes movies, I'd say Ritchie sold his soul to commercialism and gave up trying to be an artist.