RocknRolla (Warner Blu-ray &
DVD)
Picture:
B/B- Sound: B/B- Extras: C Film: B
Filmmaker
Guy Ritchie is still trying to recovery from two obviously poor career choices:
1) Madonna and 2) the film he made with her called Swept Away. After his first
two feature films (Lock, Stock and Two
Smoking Barrels & Snatch) it
seemed like there was little that Ritchie could do wrong, but he proved
everyone wrong very quickly. Maybe his
rise to the top with two quirky cult hit films were a mistake and all that
stardom snuffed out his creative spark and all other sensibilities. Well, I think it’s safe to say that after
seeing RocknRolla that Ritchie is
back, and in pure form again.
That
being said, I want to also state that while he returns to what he knows best it
also seems that this will be where he stays if he wishes to continue making
films. Which I suppose is a good thing,
but at the same time when you see one of his films you can expect that same
style again and again. So what is
Ritchie’s forte? Well, odd-ball
characters combined with criminal acts all spun together with some memorable
witty dialogue and rapid editing that is as genius as it is vital to the
overall feel and look of the film.
RocknRolla right off the bat lets us know
that Ritchie is ready to ‘roll’ again himself as we immediately are sucked into
a very Snatch-like pace as we are
introduced to our characters and in many respects it almost feels like a sequel
than anything else. This time around we
are dealing with a shady real estate deal that goes down between a Russian
billionaire and a notorious London crime boss, but before the deal is done
several thugs and gangsters will try and get their grubby hands into the mix as
the transaction takes place. Among the
thugs is a guy named One Two (played excellently by Gerard Butler of 300 fame) who quickly becomes one of
the favorites within the film to root for.
Of course other big names also grace the screen like Thandie Newton, Tom
Wilkinson, and even Jeremy Piven, but it’s the writing of the film that really
helps draw us into this wild ride of backstabbing, betrayal, and goofy
criminals.
Here we
are reviewing both the Blu-ray and DVD for the film, the Blu-ray received a
really stunning 1080p High Definition transfer that is framed in scope 2.40 X
1. For the film Ritchie incorporates a
naturally soft look to it to begin with, which the Blu-ray handles well and
demonstrates the neutral palette of colors that run throughout. While it was shot entirely on high definition
cameras it’s apparent that Ritchie wanted the film to have a non-film-like look
as there is no grain or texture, but rather a smooth image instead. The DVD on the other hand has a harder time
making this look right as it the film looks washed out and more incompetent on
DVD with a softer appearance and colors that seem off. The Blu-ray is the winner for a variety of
reasons, but most importantly for the overall resolution and ability to
demonstrate how solid the film can look when rendered correctly in a format that
can handle it.
The audio
for the Blu-ray has an edge as well with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix that
outperforms the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that is on the DVD. The mix here is
disappointing at times too, especially when compared to the fantastic Superbit
edition of Snatch on DVD, which was available in DTS and was fun, playful,
smart, and contained tons of energy that made that film work on an even greater
level. RocknRolla is predominately front heavy and forward for the most
part, it would have been great to have this is DTS, but the Dolby TrueHD 5.1
performs well overall and gives a great sense of life and depth overall.
Extras
are also disappointing when compared to the release of Snatch as we only get a commentary with Ritchie along with a short
Inside Look, plus deleted scenes and both the DVD and the Blu-ray contain the
digital copy, but aside from that the wealth of extras and content is very
limited and is surely a title that in the future would be great to have
re-issued with more extras.
It’s
great to see Ritchie getting back into his groove, we can only hope that this
is just the beginning and we will expect the future Blu-rays of his films to be
a notch above as well.
- Nate Goss
