Friday 9 January 2009

 

The latest culture as recommended by our staff

Peter Hoskin

Pete suggests


Missing the mark

Wednesday, 3rd September 2008

RocknRolla
15, Nationwide

Then again, I may be overestimating Ritchie’s abilities. Matthew Vaughn, who produced Lock, Stock, has proved more adept at remaking that film than Ritchie. (I’m thinking of Layer Cake, his 2004 gangster picture starring Daniel Craig.) Could it be that Vaughn was the real author of Lock, Stock? Even if that isn’t the case, the fact that Ritchie was a first-time director back then, and more likely to listen to his collaborators, may have protected him from himself. A good producer with the confidence to stand up to Ritchie could have done a lot to improve RocknRolla. At 114 minutes, it is at least ten minutes too long.

I hope I’m wrong. My gut feeling is that Ritchie is every bit as talented as Lock, Stock implied and we will eventually see a return to form. Unfortunately, RocknRolla isn’t it.

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