RocknRolla (15)

Eight years after Snatch, Guy Ritchie reminds the world he is not just famous for breaking up with/not breaking up with Madonna by firing out another gun-toting Cockney treat.

The tabloid target’s reputation may have dwindled following the release of the abysmal Swept Away and mind boggling Revolver, but Brit gangster flick RocknRolla (15) shows a definite return to form.

Small-time crooks One Two (Gerard Butler) and Mumbles (The Wire’s Idris Elba) screw up a property deal after borrowing money from mobster Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson).

The pair are forced to steal money to pay the gangster back, with the help of sexy accountant Stella (Thandie Newton). But when a Russian billionaire and a junkie rock star weave their way through the ever thickening plot, everyone collides in an effort to claim what is theirs.

It’s not fair to give too much of the 100mph plot away, because trying to keep up with it really is half the fun.

This film is the natural successor to Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, a perfect blend of humour, violence and intertwining storylines. Ritchie’s third film (we’ll do him the honour of pretending the last two didn’t happen, shall we?) proves to critics he is not a Tarantino clone (despite blatant inspiration and a few possible homages) and very much has his own style, which we will hopefully see more of before he attempts any other career-jeopardising genre tangents.

The dialogue is good enough, although the fun rhyming slang Ritchie usually excels at seems a little toned down, possibly to appeal to American audiences, who are no doubt eager to see what their Queen of Pop’s hubby does for a living.

Instead, better attention is paid to visual set pieces, with one of the funniest scenes coming from a chase involving indestructible Russians.

A tenuous gay best friend plotline suggests Ritchie is using his artistic soapbox to tell the world he is not homophobic as a retort at Madonna’s brother Christopher Ciccone’s allegations in his recent book.

Maybe, or perhaps it just helps ease the film into a 21st century culture devoid of ‘real men’ icons. The director even writes in a strong female character, played by the beautiful Newton. These qualities combine with the toning down of blood and naughty words to make it much more than just a ‘boys’ film’ and suitable for the less hardened cinema-goers.

The soundtrack is as spot on as can be expected from a Ritchie film, with great tracks from the likes of The Clash and The Subways. But contrary to the guitar thrashing, hotel-TV-lobbing theme the title suggests, the film mainly revolves around property development, a few heartbeats per minute shy of the diamond heist and high-stakes gambling storylines of his previous scripts.

This is not just Ritchie’s show. Toby Kebbell (Dead Man’s Shoes) commands attention as presumed-dead rock star Johnny Quid with his sometimes sombre, sometimes mad-cap performance, while 300’s Butler fits the man’s man role as well as Jason Statham, the Johnny Depp to Ritchie’s Tim Burton.

And both Chris ‘Ludacris’ Brown and Entourage’s Jeremy Piven earn their place among the ensemble cast as Quid’s luckless managers.

Two sequels are already in the works, but distributor Warner Brothers has yet to give the green light for follow ups until the box office results are in. Though Ritchie has little to worry about, the first instalment delivers everything he was praised for after his previous successes.

He has tried romantic-comedy and veered towards art-house, but the director has finally come home to good old east London’s guns, drugs and cockney catchphrases where he belongs. Fun, cool and action-packed, RocknRolla blasts Ritchie back on the British film scene, all guns blazing. 

Click here to watch the trailer.