Blu-ray Movie Reviews

"I own this town." But owning is getting expensive for old-school London gangster Lenny Cole. A wealthier foreign mob is moving in with a riverfront property swindle. A small-timer and his crew think they can play both sides and become big time. Now add a hard-as-ice accountant, a rocker playing dead to boost sales, wannabe music moguls, a missing painting and a mad mosh of money and muscle, and you've got a real "RocknRolla".

Guy Ritchie returns to the scene with his signature flair for wit, style and action. While this film isn’t quite the gut buster like Snatch it shows a more mature side to the London gangster scene than Ritchie’s more popular films. The film starts a bit slow but picks up tremendously as the circle of misfits start to come together in the second half. Ritchie reminds me a lot of Tarantino with his knack for great dialogue, wit and stylization. Like his films before it, Rolla oozes a cool sense of style with great casting, humor and sound.

This film was shot with digital cameras and the image has an impeccably clean look to it. Detail and dimension are quite good but the finest details on the actors escape the image at times. The stylistic look of the film is superb and I love the camera work during some of the more action intense sequences. Contrast is strong with great black levels and thankfully there were no signs of clipping with whites like we see so often with digitally shot films. The color palette is a bit subdued and leans toward amber a bit but this only strengthens the look and feel of the film.

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and delivers some intense dynamics. While this isn’t an action film there are plenty of moments when you’d swear it was. The low end design of the soundtrack has an aggressive role with plenty of deep bass. The soundtrack selections are outstanding and really add to the feel of the film, similar to what we typically see from Guy’s films. Dialogue is balanced nicely into the spatial mix but I did hear some minor noise from the microphone placement.

Extras are a bit slim for this one. You get a feature commentary with the director and actor Mark Strong plus a deleted scene. There are two featurettes, one giving you a synopsis on the story and characters and the other giving you some insight into the influences on the film in modern day London. Both are in HD. No trailer though. A second disc is included with a digital copy of the film for portable devices.

It is great to see Ritchie back in his comfort zone. While I’m a fan of all of his films this one is definitely more in line with his more popular offerings. The A/V presentation is strong making this an easy recommendation for fans of the genre.