That's More Like It Guy

With RocknRolla, Guy Ritchie finally returns to the genre he's unfortunately been trying to avoid: The Guy Ritchie Ridiculous Gangster Movie. While not quite as highly stylized as Snatch and Lock Stock, RockNRolla has the good old sprawling plot and absurdly deep cast of comical London street thugs we've come to love and expect from him. Thankfully, he's gotten back to the basics and done away with the contrived psychodrama of Revolver in exchange for the fun, violence, and cockney posturing of his original films. It's a mostly new cast this time around, with Gerard Butler and Stringer Bell stepping in for Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones. The additions of Jeremy Piven and Ludacris seem a bit unnecessary, as do their characters, but unnecessary characters are what Guy Ritchie movies are all about. While RocknRolla doesn't seem to have the freshness of Lock Stock or the over-the-top style of Snatch, it remains a ride worth riding and the promise of a sequel is one worth keeping. (B)