Entertainment

<< Previous   of   Next >> Warner Bros.  (click to enlarge) Gerard Butler and Thandie Newton star in "RocknRolla."   ADVERTISEMENT   "RocknRolla" (1 1/2 stars) Empty style: Another Guy Ritchie crime drama, with decent actors (Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton) mixed up in a typically convoluted story line. The violence is played for laughs and everybody strikes cool poses, but it all looks like so much empty "style." Rated: R rating is for violence, language Now showing: Alderwood, Everett, Meridian   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, October 31, 2008 Ritchie's latest stylish but too convoluted By Robert Horton Herald Movie Critic When he married Madonna, Guy Ritchie assumed the kind of uncool mojo you wouldn't wish on the worst filmmaker in the world. Which he wasn't; "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" was a good time. Now that the marriage is, tragically, kaput, Ritchie is off shooting a high-profile Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. The problem is, while his career is surging, we have to sit through the films he's already made. Last year it was "Revolver," the kind of abomination that kills less resilient careers. This year it's "RocknRolla" -- an improvement, but still a cardboard exercise in gangsterism. The movie is narrated by Archy (Mark Strong, an increasingly valuable British actor -- he was in "Body of Lies" and "Sunshine"), a cool-as-a-meat-locker assistant to Lenny (Tom Wilkinson, late of "Michael Clayton"). Lenny's a bellowing dealer in privilege and graft. Anybody who wants to move real estate in London has to go through Lenny, who clears the permits and pulls the strings. Insofar as I can follow the plot, Lenny gets mixed up with a lethal Russian (Karel Roden) whose ideas of fair play have nothing to do with ancient ideas of honor among thieves. The important thing in Ritchie's script is that a large cast of people keep tripping over each other's feet. These include a couple of at-large hoods ("300" hunk Gerard Butler, in amusing form, and Idris Elba), a mysterious and chic accountant (Thandie Newton, fresh from impersonating Condi Rice in "W."), and a couple of American music producers (Jeremy Piven and Chris Bridges). There are others, of course. The usual gun battles are less epic here than in Ritchie's past, maybe because the British crime drama has exhausted that stuff. The best joke has to do with a henchman (Tom Hardy) about to be sent to prison, who has a final request from Butler's character. Beyond that, people strike cool poses, hip songs play for little bite-sized segments, and the violence is played for laughs. Some skillful actors go full bore at this, so the movie isn't a complete waste. But it sure doesn't add up to more than empty "style." Good luck, Sherlock. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

1. Some stores, malls to get a jump on ‘Black Friday' 2. $6.5 million lottery ticket purchased in Lake Stevens 3. Fire displaces Arlington family 4. Everett man will take his do-it-yourself ethic to the grave 5. Inmates with mental illness bring extra costs to Monroe prison 6. When the customer is wrong and a jerk 7. Mayor-elect won over Granite Falls 8. Economy may silence Everett Symphony's season 9. Soldier who had lived in Marysville killed in Afghanistan 10. Ongoing road work near schools worries parents 2 - Top 10 Stories Most Talked about 3 - Top 10 Stories Most Emailed

• Eat local this Thanksgiving • Mavericks moving on • Canada's Great Big Sea rolls into Edmonds • A. Murphy finishes 2nd in volleyball • Art Walk features music, demonstrations • EAT LOCAL: Getting the goods • Lynnwood HS history teacher Vic Bennet dies • Wildcats head to semis • CSO Chamber annual show slated Nov. 23 • Boeing will build, flight test and deliver 787s in South Carolina to spe ... • Snohomish County EDC promoting job growth in key industry clusters • $4 million grant to advance brain tumor research has Everett links • Providence medical center construction tops off its 12-story steel frame ... • Tulalip affordable housing project to be financed by KeyBank, Raymond Ja ... • Arlington's Lak of Ink has a growing following for Luke Kooyman's creati ... • Bank of the Northwest formed • Cascade Bank earns $1.6 million