Metascore
53 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 28 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 28
  2. Negative: 4 out of 28
  1. Ritchie concocts a crime-jungle demimonde that's organically linked to the real world, and it's a damn fun one to visit.
  2. 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!
  3. Reviewed by: Joe Leydon
    80
    A cleverly constructed, sensationally stylish and often darkly hilarious seriocomic caper.
  4. 75
    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.
  5. 75
    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.
  6. 75
    A sharp comedy as well as a punk-pulp spree. Don't go if you can't handle Brit slang. ("Grass" = informer.)
  7. Reviewed by: Jenni Miller
    75
    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."
  8. Reviewed by: Mark Bell
    70
    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.
  9. Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    70
    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.
  10. Reviewed by: Josh Rosenblatt
    67
    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.
  11. 67
    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.
  12. 63
    RocknRolla is a kickass crime drama that just doesn't know to quit while it's ahead.
  13. Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    63
    A well-acted and attitudinal action movie, a return to Ritchie's trademark "Mockney" style, which takes amusing and twisted turns.
  14. 63
    It's fun to see Tom Wilkinson, for instance, with a massive bald spot virtually eating scenery with a knife and fork.
  15. 63
    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.
  16. Reviewed by: Sam Adams
    60
    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.
  17. 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.
  18. If only RocknRolla's characters were at all believable - even in the context of its own cartoon universe.
  19. 50
    As punchy and energetic as the first few moments are, the rest of the film quickly falls back into mediocrity.
  20. RocknRolla is a copy of a copy of a valuable original, and you know how faint and unintelligible those can be.
  21. On the plus side, the actors - especially Butler and Wilkinson - work overtime to pump some extra life into the self-conscious script.
  22. Like the filmmaking itself, the violence has no passion, no oomph, no sense of real or even feigned purpose.
  23. 50
    This film's got EVERYTHING, although purists might quibble that it lacks any sliver of plausibility or dramatic interest.
  24. 40
    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.
  25. 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.
  26. 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.
  27. Reviewed by: Nick Pinkerton
    10
    Sum total of scenes that deserved to stay in the final cut: Thandie Newton doing a little shimmying frug.
  28. Frenetic and self-conscious to the point of tedium.
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 109 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 49
  2. Negative: 6 out of 49
  1. EbriamH
    9
    Loved it, from beginning to end. I wild rollercoaster of a film, not too different from Snatch but when judged on it's own, it's a great film. The Real RocknRolla can't come fast enough. Full Review »
  2. Tallen
    3
    Disappointing to say the least. The acting is wooden and lacks direction and the cut means the end of the film makes little sense. Ritchie steals too much from previous films, the snitch boss a-la Layer Cake was horribly predictable, the film tries hard to be Lock Stock and Snatch, but lacks in every department and simply winds up as an unintentional parody of Ritchie films. Poorly acted for the most part, poorly cast, poorly directed and hopeless editing and cutting leaves this film as a ghost of what most people expected it to be. Unbelievable and unrealistic this is more a pantomime than a movie. Full Review »
  3. Anthony
    5
    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. Full Review »