Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
xx
Fantastic Mr. Fox
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
66
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
RocknRolla
EMAILPRINTWarner Bros. Pictures

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 28 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 57 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Crime
Written by: Guy Ritchie
Directed by: Guy Ritchie
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 8, 2008
DVD: January 27, 2009
Running Time: 114 minutes, Color
Origin: UK
Summary
RATING: R for pervasive language, violence, drug use and brief sexuality
Starring Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Toby Kebbell, and Jeremy Piven
RocknRolla is a story of sex, thugs and rock 'n roll. The action comedy takes a dangerous ride into high crime and low life in contemporary London, where real estate has supplanted drugs as the biggest market, and criminals are its most enthusiastic entrepreneurs. But for anyone looking to get in - from small-time crook One Two to shady Russian billionaire Uri Obomavich - there's only one man to see: Lenny Cole. (Warner Bros.)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Revolver Snatch Swept Away
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Ritchie concocts a crime-jungle demimonde that's organically linked to the real world, and it's a damn fun one to visit.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
It's all here: the ingenious, obscenity-laced language, the double crosses that turn into triple crosses, the swaggering characters so in love with themselves. GottaLove RocknRolla!
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
A cleverly constructed, sensationally stylish and often darkly hilarious seriocomic caper.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
A sharp comedy as well as a punk-pulp spree. Don't go if you can't handle Brit slang. ("Grass" = informer.)
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The bottom line is, all these people chase the same money around with the success of doggie tail-biting, and it's a lot of fun, and it's not often in these con films that everybody is conning everybody, and they're all scared to death, and nobody knows which cup the pea is under.
Read Full Review >Premiere Jenni Miller
Though the plot has a few too many holes in it, the sheer fun of RockNRolla makes it easy to overlook such quibbles. Butler will make you forget all about "Sparta."
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Although the characters are all cartoons, Ritchie still invests them with enough personality to make them stand out as real people, which is what makes RocknRolla much more involving than your typical Tarantino ripoff.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
The main problem is that Ritchie keeps playing the same old song. It's a swell tune, and we don't mind hearing it every few years, but we'd welcome another subject in a transposed key. Even the Material Girl tries out fresh material.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Mark Bell
If you're a fan of the early Ritchie comedy-crime thrillers, then this is not only right up your alley, it's a long lost relative returning home.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
As is the norm for Ritchie, Rocknrolla is also too long, too coolly violent, and too populated by characters who all talk like they've been reading the same pulp novelist.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt
A fast-paced amoral joyride that's more interested in the absurdities of violent criminality (torture by crayfish, anyone?) than the complications of real life.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Watching Guy Ritchie's British-underworld farce, RocknRolla, is like being compelled to pay attention to a nonstop rock station you normally use as background while you're doing chores. The words are catchy and the beat keeps you awake, though all of it quickly fades.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
It's fun to see Tom Wilkinson, for instance, with a massive bald spot virtually eating scenery with a knife and fork.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
A well-acted and attitudinal action movie, a return to Ritchie's trademark "Mockney" style, which takes amusing and twisted turns.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
RocknRolla is a kickass crime drama that just doesn't know to quit while it's ahead.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Sam Adams
Ritchie whisks you along on a whirlwind tour, but he's not averse to putting on the brakes long enough to admire some of his favorite attractions.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
It never generates much interest in its story or affection for its characters, and it's simply not half as funny as it needs to be.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
As punchy and energetic as the first few moments are, the rest of the film quickly falls back into mediocrity.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
Like the filmmaking itself, the violence has no passion, no oomph, no sense of real or even feigned purpose.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
On the plus side, the actors - especially Butler and Wilkinson - work overtime to pump some extra life into the self-conscious script.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker Anthony Lane
This film's got EVERYTHING, although purists might quibble that it lacks any sliver of plausibility or dramatic interest.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
RocknRolla is a copy of a copy of a valuable original, and you know how faint and unintelligible those can be.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
If only RocknRolla's characters were at all believable - even in the context of its own cartoon universe.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Thinking back on watching these performers, I see them mostly as an arrangement of bewildered actors awaiting orders, as if Ritchie hasn't bothered to tell them what he needs them to do. He’d sure make a lousy Mob boss.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Ritchie, who shoots and cuts everything in RocknRolla like an ad for a particularly greasy brand of fragrance for men, delivers the beatings and killings in his trademark atmosphere of morally weightless flash.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
RocknRolla attempts to depict a world of ever-expanding chaos. But the chaos is only in the way the story is told. The actual vision Ritchie offers is pedestrian and tame.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Nick Pinkerton
Sum total of scenes that deserved to stay in the final cut: Thandie Newton doing a little shimmying frug.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Frenetic and self-conscious to the point of tedium.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 57 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Nick R. gave it a10:
Awesome! If you liked Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, or any other good Cockney Gangster Film, you will love this.
Anthony gave it a5:
There's not much new here. Sure, as a film alone it's not bad. There's some cool scenes and funny moments. The style and soundtrack make it all seem very exciting. However, if you've seen any of Mr Ritchie's previous films or the the great movie, Layer Cake, then this just seems jaded. In terms of the plot and characters, you can actually see where he's just lifted existing material (Johnny Quidd is the same as Mickey in Snatch; Lenny is like Bricktop and the bad guy in Layer Cake... I could go on. ) This would not be so bad if it was improving on the earlier films but it isn't. If anything, Ritchie's just getting sloppier. There's rehashed dialogue and a couple of story lines that seem very unnecessary and lack any real conclusion. So overall, this is worth a watch if you fancy some mindless entertainment and liked his earlier work... but don't bother if you're looking for something new.
Rowan F gave it a10:
VS.D, sorry, but go f**k yourself. Rocknrolla may in fact be the EXACT opposite to what you said. If you are considering seeing this film then you MUST do so! It is one of the greatest, most interesting, thrilling, satisfying movies ever. The story has some great unexpected twists and literally kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through, ok so its a little complicated but if you stick with it then you'll love it. The action sequences are awesome and original and I wouldn't swap just one of them for the ALL of the action sequences in Quantom of Solace. Plus the acting and characters are truly superb. All of it comes together to form something so unbelievably amazing that you simply HAVE to see it. Half of these reviewers are talking out of their asses, i'm not even sure we were watching the same movie!
frixos g gave it a5:
Its all following a formula its an expensive object some amount of money several gangster groups that fight for those two there also some other nationality involved so there is a different theme each time what else?oh the drug addict who screwed things up.etc You get the picture.Though i guess would rate it more there weren't any lock stock and 2 smoking barrels or snatch.
caporegime gave it a2:
What happened to guy ritchie? The only thing that made this movie good is the rocknrolla itself, standing in front of the mirror with the clash soundtrack playing, that is the only thing i can remember about this movie. Everything else is human waste.
nate gave it a9:
I like it how so many people say this movie is boring. You would have to be an idiot to even fathom that! its a fast paced action thriller with good action and well crafted humor. Excited to see the next installment!!!!
[Anonymous] gave it a3:
Not completely bad, but could use the subtitle "Kinda like Snatch but not nearly as good". I winced at Tom Wilkinson's speech about the crayfish, it was basically lifted from Bricktop's speech about pigs in Snatch. At least Jason Statham wasn't in this one playing the same character he plays in every. single. film. Still, a boring rehash that feels about 5 to 10 years old, when films and tv shows about gangsters were cool. Let's face it --gangsters are pretty played at this point. Your time is better spent on his first two films, and, Guy, rather than making the promised sequel/s, why dont you try something new?
