Blu-ray Review: The Lone Ranger (2013)

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The Lone Ranger is a movie of many contradictions. On the one hand it’s so confusing and episodic that if we aren’t careful we’ll get completely lost in the sun-drenched sands of the western desert. Yet at the same time it’s so contrived in its storytelling structure that it’s bookended by a cheesy extended flashback narrative device featuring an older version of Johnny Depp’s Tonto spinning the exact same yarn that’s being unspooled by each sequential flicker of celluloid to a young boy who serves as a stand-in for the audience.

And as annoying as the gimmick is in spoon-feeding the saga to viewers through an on-screen surrogate, because the film was written multiple times by multiple people, there are times when we do find ourselves thankful for the cinematic hand-holding since what we’re ultimately presented with is a meandering, muddled mess of a picture desperately in search of an overall plot – if not a point.

 

Pulling us in multiple directions, The Lone Ranger is bogged down by endless possibilities – often trying and failing to chronicle the conflicts and subplots of more than a dozen of characters at once, all with different genre feels and tones until it becomes ever so obvious that a young boy is the last possible person that should be hearing the tale.

Featuring a colorful cast of characters who seem like they’ve wandered in from entirely different films Purple Rose of Cairo style and entered The Lone Ranger, we’re stunned by the choices made by the writers when faced with some of the decidedly un-Disneyfied players that populate the picture and detract from the original plot.

For within the same hour and in a purported “family film” no less, we encounter a cannibalistic killer who cuts the hearts out of his victims to satisfy his disgusting taste buds, a transvestite villain with a fetish for looking ultra-feminine and a one-legged prostitute who conceals a shotgun in her wooden leg.

Just who exactly the film is “really” supposed to play for in actuality as opposed to on the posters is anyone’s guess as is just what on Earth the film we’re presented has in common with the beloved hero of television and film past from which it’s supposed to have been adapted.

As it turns out, very little indeed as instead of the Jimmy Stewart type of heroic ranger intended by producer Jerry Bruckheimer, we’re given an awkward, not very bright, reluctant and at times cowardly hero who has to be goaded into action.

Given that Armie Hammer isn’t exactly a recognizable name cast-choice, the fact that he plays second fiddle to Johnny Depp isn’t all that surprising but what is surprising is Depp’s bizarre take on Tonto as a Native American with a screw loose and a tragic back-story to boot that has filled him with such guilt that it’s a wonder he can function at all.

An odd portrayal at best from his stilted “Ha, white man,” clichéd style line delivery and fanciful whims that never quite gel with the Buster Keaton persona and sense of ‘20s silent movie pratfall physicality he puts forth in some of the film’s more successful scenes.

An overall ugly film that is definitely unsuitable for casual family viewing, The Lone Ranger’s only saving grace comes in the form of its second – far more successful – bookend device featuring complex action sequences executed by horse and train.

 

While the first one is impressive if a bit short, ultimately it’s just a preview of the brilliance to come in the second and final action sequence of the film – a twenty-minute, all-out, adrenaline pumping blend of bravura action and screwball silent comedy synced to the Lone Ranger theme we know so well.

The expertly choreographed feat is a feast for the ears and eyes, not to mention far more dazzling than anything else not only in Ranger or in other vastly superior action movies during the course of 2013.

It's so good that it makes you mad by how much the rest of the bloated 140 minute movie missed the mark by not matching the remaining 120 minutes to the same pace, tone, spirit, style and humor on display in that sequence.

And against all odds and reason, the formerly must-miss movie becomes a must-see just for that segment alone. An infusion of the goofy fun of 1998’s Zorro remake with the artistry of Buster Keaton’s The General, which most certainly served as a chief inspiration – an argument can be made that that sequence should’ve been trimmed from the picture and released as an Oscar worthy live action short in its own right.

Unfortunately however you can’t just review the film for one part but have to take it as the overall sum of those parts and ultimately Disney’s Lone Ranger is a disaster of epic proportions, especially once you factor in the obscene amount of money gambled on the budget that it justifiably lost at the box office.

Nonetheless, those who have taken a chance on the film in its flawless Blu-ray transfer can take advantage of the handy scene-selection feature to skip the mess and move right to the mini-movie that enthusiasts of the original Ranger were waiting for all along. Hi ho, Silver, and away to the end indeed.     

Text ©2013, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Blu-ray Review: Valkyrie (2008)

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Despite being born and raised in the era of “Free to Be You and Me,” following World War II, I never felt free to be German. Seemingly unable to escape my heritage because it is the country from which my last name is derived-- as a child if you were to ask me about my ethnic background, I'd list the other four nationalities first, drop an octave and then apologetically whisper “and German.”

It made little difference that my relatives had all arrived via Ellis Island and were not a part of Hitler's Germany-- for just like now we find so many people of Middle Eastern descent being typecast as villains in Hollywood films. For every year without fail and usually in the attempt to lure more Oscar nominations, studios release a plethora of World War II pictures filled with nefarious Germans, swastikas galore, and more points of view from the unspeakably horrific global war.

And while with greater education and cinematic offerings we’ve begun to catch new aspects of the war from foreign films like Black Book, Downfall, The Counterfeiters, and Nowhere in Africa—regardless of their origin, the films instantly makes the small amount of German blood in me boil and the results find me feeling irrationally guilty.

Last winter was no exception as once more theaters were filled with titles concerning World War II that ranged from The Boy in the Striped Pajamas to The Reader to Defiance to the long-delayed Bryan Singer venture Valkyrie produced by and starring United Artists’ new studio head Tom Cruise.

Although as Oscar host Hugh Jackman even joked, basically nobody checked out The Reader (much to the surprise of everyone when Kate Winslet took home both a Golden Globe and Academy award for her little-seen role), the reaction to Pajamas was extremely mixed, and Defiance opened under everyone’s radar after the holiday season. Yet despite its controversy and ever-changing release date that once had been scheduled for Valentines Day of 2009, in the end it was the senselessly pre-judged and ridiculed Valkyrie that scored a major “V for Victory" both for United Artists and World War II movies as it became “one of the biggest grossing box office adult movies* of the past holiday season,” as the press release acknowledges. (* Yes, I didn't think the word order of "adult movies" was a great choice either.)

Although public perception had drastically improved for some of the previously questionable antics of Tom Cruise following his hysterical cameo in Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder which may have helped turn the tide for a film that was receiving negative buzz way before it opened.

Whatever the case may be, in my view the movie is a success on a number of levels. Sophisticated and highly intellectual, the work which tells the true story of a brilliantly engineered plan headed up by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) and several other high ranking German soldiers to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944 engages you deeply into its suspenseful plot. This is all done via the painstakingly historical efforts put forth by Singer and screenwriters Christopher McQuarrie (Oscar winner for The Usual Suspects) and his co-writer Nathan Alexander.

Despite the fact that there were fifteen recorded attempts to take out Hitler, it was the amazingly methodical and meticulous organization of von Stauffenberg, a tight-knit group of officers and a network that expanded to seven hundred others that made Operation Valkyrie the closest the Germans ever got to putting an end once and for all to the madness of Hitler’s Nazi tyranny.

Curiously and despite the fact that it's a natural plot for Hollywood fodder, the story is long overdue for cinematic treatment and it’s one that as the Blu-ray for the release informs us, McQuarrie literally chanced upon while in Germany years ago researching something else entirely. When he noticed a small memorial of four soldiers including von Stauffenberg, he discovered that Germany’s involvement in the war was not quite as “black-and-white” as it has been portrayed for decades on the silver screen.

As the living grandson of the real von Stauffenberg explains, his grandfather like other men were proud to soldiers and serve their country and did not consider themselves to be part of the Nazi regime. Following an attack on von Stauffenberg’s 10th Panzer Division serving in Tunisia which left him seriously wounded (including the loss of one eye, a hand and other fingers), upon his return to his family and home in Berlin, he’s soon ushered into the ongoing plot and secret meetings among other disillusioned and disgusted German soldiers to eliminate Hitler.

However and despite a tense failed attempt to simply execute via a bomb in a move spearheaded by Major-General Henning von Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh)-- with von Stauffenberg’s level-headed assurance that there must be a plan to follow Hitler's demise, they realize that it’s a far more complex proposition than simply just walking up and shooting him at close range the way most had no doubt fantasized.

In addition to von Stauffenberg and von Tresckow, we meet several key players including General Frierich Olbricht (Bill Nighy), Ludwig Beck (Terence Stamp), and General Friedrich Fromm (Tom Wilkinson) and more including some like Fromm who are fearful of what would happen if it goes horribly wrong.

Although once von Stauffenberg realizes that the best way to stage a coup and seriously deconstruct the military stronghold to immobilize the SS so that he and the others can work to set things right once the Fuhrer falls, the smartest yet most dangerous move is to use Hitler’s own Operation Valkyrie contingency plan against him.

Bravely rewriting it, setting new details into play and forming alliances with a string of like-minded soldiers-- von Stauffenberg never makes a misstep even when he’s face-to-face with Hitler himself and has to receive his signature on the new document.

Likewise, Bryan Singer doesn't miss the opportunity to use his penchant for suspense to punch up the execution of Alexander and McQuarrie’s dialogue driven script (inspired by HBO’s Conspiracy, ironically starring Kenneth Branagh). In doing so, he makes every scene a truly intense action sequence even when a pen and not a sword is used and this approach is precisely what made Valkyrie one of the most thoroughly gripping and fresh takes on the World War II genre in a long time.

Although initially, I must admit that seeing Cruise playing von Stauffenberg with the same intensity and style he injects into a majority of his interchangeable American hero films was a bit disconcerting. Moreover, I was also taken aback by Singer’s extremely odd decision to have his cast go with their natural accents (mostly British with the exception of Cruise’s contemporary American fast-talking rhythm) as opposed to striving for some sort of more balanced sound for the ensemble.

While the X-Men and Usual Suspects director explained in the production notes that adopting accents would most likely have distracted from the plot as a whole and he felt more inclined to just make the piece “engaging” rather than docu-drama like--given its meticulous attention to detail in filming for example some of the firing squad sequences exactly where they happened makes this deviation from authenticity increasingly hard to ignore.

Yet despite this choice, the film is a tremendous achievement and one that triumphs wholeheartedly in finally shedding light on this inspiring effort by soldiers determined that by not trying to counter the Nazi regime, the world would assume that Germany was simply Hitler’s Germany and not the country in which they loved and were proud to serve.

Loaded with bonus features including a second digital copy disc of the film to transfer to your compatible Apple or PC portable devices--per usual for Fox and MGM Blu-ray releases-- the clarity in sound and picture is first rate and manages to make it even more exciting than it was in the theatre. This is especially true considering that do to the intricacies of the script, we’re able to focus more on the many characterizations of the rather large ensemble involved when we have the chance to watch at our own pace and better digest information.

While Journey of the Valkyrie and two commentary tracks are included (including one with childhood friends and Usual Suspects colleagues Singer and McQuarrie and star/producer Tom Cruise and the other with writers) along with other featurettes that reveal just how much Cruise and some cast members looked damn near identical to the men they portrayed (see below)—the two standouts on the Blu-ray include a historical mini-documentary hosted by von Stauffeberg’s grandson called The Road to Resistance and a Q&A conversation hosted by Annette Insdorf with Singer and Cruise.

At last a film that illustrates the multiple layers of the war and educates viewers who may have easily jumped to the conclusion that Germany equals Hitler and Soldier equals Nazi as depicted in countless films—while some may still nit-pick on the accuracies of certain portions including von Stauffenberg’s motive or the film’s absence of an exact plan for how the new leaders would’ve found a way to stop the devastation—it’s a stellar and involving work.

Passionately made by Singer who recalls in a conversation with Insdorf that when he was growing up Jewish and obsessed with the war his two best friends just so happened to have been German born German Americans here in the states—Valkyrie honors the brave and intricate plan and similarly those involved. In other words, it reminds us once again of the important lesson that there’s so many sides to every story. And on a more personal note, after walking out of a WWII picture for the first time in my life, I finally felt not just "free to be" but very proud to be a German American.

Blu-ray Review: The Last Kiss (2006)

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Million Dollar Baby screenwriter Paul Haggis adapted Gabrielle Muccino’s Italian film L’Ultimo Bacio for director Tony Goldwyn in this superb remake that does an admirable job of navigating viewers through the often messy and sometimes brutally painful evolution and deterioration of relationships.

Although in one of several making-of-featurettes included on DreamWorks Home Entertainment’s brand-new Blu-ray version of the film, Haggis humbly described his job as essentially translating the film into English with the exception of one major different twist as a character in the American film admits to an indiscretion—one can’t help he’s belittling his material since there's nothing European about the work which still feels remarkably accurate three years later.

While most Hollywood films focus on the good times, not too many filmmakers are willing to go the distance in revealing the bad as well as the good in modern long-term romantic couplings. Whether it's through revealing the things we may think but do not say such as when one character confesses that he believed having a child with his beloved would bring them closer together but instead all it's done is make them feel trapped or questioning aloud that if you love someone, why is it we feel the need to have a photo album filled with snapshots “of drunk people in tuxedos to prove it”-- every single one of the characters in the film (whether or not they’re fully developed is to be debated) feels as though they’re someone we could meet walking down the street, or someone we’ve been at one point or another, or someone with whom we’re involved.

Now seeing the 2006 film again on Blu-ray and thus right around the same age bracket as a majority of the characters—Haggis’ dialogue rings truer than ever and illustrates the promise that was to come for the future Oscar winner whose work with Kiss was sweetened by those involved who helped him during the arduous process of financing his upcoming Million Dollar Baby (eventually directed by Clint Eastwood) and Crash.

In a role that couldn’t be any further from his recurring Scrubs character of John Dorian who is prone to fantasies, silliness and childlike naïveté-- Garden State's Zach Braff is excellent as our uncertain and admittedly selfish lead Michael, who at the start of the film faces three life-altering events. Namely these consist of the pregnancy of his long-time girlfriend Jacinda Barrett and the possible commitment issues that go along with it, his thirtieth birthday, and the beginning of a casual flirtation with a young, bright college student (The O.C.'s Rachel Bilson) whom he meets at a wedding that begins to make Michael wonder if he’s really ready to settle down.

It’s the wedding that opens the film that sets the stage for all of the internal crises that follow as director Tony Goldwyn notes in the “Filmmakers Perspective” Blu-ray extra-- the depiction of the perfect relationship is precisely the right jumping-off point to ask “but what happens when [relationships] don't go that way?”

And in answering that, he introduces us to a group of characters all struggling to make sense of their lives in an age where as Bilson’s character notes, “our metabolism” is faster and we’ve begun “to freak out way before our parents” did.

While the film mostly surrounds Michael and his other equally stressed male friends-- all with varying levels of personal crisis of their own-- there is a surprisingly riveting subplot involving Blythe Danner as Barrett’s mother who is going through a rough patch in her marriage to Tom Wilkinson after she admits to an infidelity.

On a second viewing in fact-- it’s Danner and Wilkinson’s courage in showing the evolution of a marriage that’s reached (possibly one of several) breaking points that feels sharper than ever and their performances are both extremely brave-- and par for the course of the rest of the movie-- highly authentic.

Similar to Braff's Garden State, the wonderful soundtrack of Kiss helps make the admittedly dark, intense and sometimes just excruciatingly confrontational themes and moments a bit easier to bear although it’s probably not the best choice for a date movie or a companion feature for a low-key romantic evening in as this is the type of film that could cause an argument, despite raising some valid, mature, and accurate issues.

Likewise, by the end of the film, even though we’d spent so much time with a majority of the characters over the onscreen events of roughly two weeks, I still found myself feeling a sense of incompleteness as-- although we fully understand the male characters--it would’ve definitely been interesting if the females had been given more screen time to wholly understand their points-of-view.

After all, even though as they sing in “As Time Goes By,” “a kiss is still a kiss,” it can mean two incredibly different things to each participant, since in this film and truer to life—going against the lyrics—a sigh isn’t just a sigh but a deeper indication of a unique perspective and one I longed to explore in greater detail.

Perhaps a more challenging filmmaking exercise would’ve been to not simply remake the film but pull it apart and switch it up so that the same situations could’ve been seen from both genders as Haggis proved so deftly capable of in stringing together narratives and layers of characters and situations for his Oscar winning Crash.

Yet as it stands, The Last Kiss is still one of the braver and truer to life “quarter-life" and "mid-life" crisis works Hollywood has produced in years and one that works as a very welcome antidote to the endless string of films about middle-aged men who act like thirteen year old boys currently in vogue at the multiplex.

As producer Gary Lucchesi acknowledges in yet another behind the scenes extra that shares the last thoughts on the film by those involved, he says that he senses American audiences are yearning for more intimacy and more reality in works that feel a bit rawer.

And despite the fact that these are exactly the films that people are running away from now during our economic recession three years later-- for anyone going through any of the “personal inventory” taking as they reach 20, 30, 40, 50, or up there's something reassuring in the realization that it’s a universal and instantly relatable existential crisis and that it’s one that only evolves with age along with our wisdom and relationships.

Featuring multiple commentaries involving both the filmmaker and also the cast as well as greater analysis of certain scenes and an intensive making-of featurette, along with some of the standard requirements like a less than amusing gag reel, deleted scenes, and the Zach Braff directed music video “Ride” by Cary Brothers, the Blu-ray definitely increases the sense of depth perception however the overall picture and sound leave a bit to be desired.

Essentially, within moments you’ll need to punch up the muddied color by tweaking with the brightness or vivid settings on your television or player as well as raising the volume fairly high since the work is filled with intimate, whispery conversations and quiet confessions (that of course counteract the intense blow-up in your face arguments). Thus, a greater balance should have been achieved in the transfer from DVD to justify the price-tag and decision to move the work to Blu-ray without sharpening up the contrast of the image and up-and-down sound that had this reviewer reaching for her remote far too often, ultimately detracting from the overall cinematic experience.

While it’s recommended for those who were a fan but hadn’t yet made the purchase of the film-- those who already own it on DVD may want to give the Blu-ray a rental test-drive before gambling on an upgrade—sort of like weighing one’s options before you say “I do.”

RocknRolla (2008)

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I could begin one of two ways-- with the phrase “open mouth, insert foot,” or by crafting an open letter of apology to Mr. Guy Ritchie. Ritchie, whose tendency towards ADD hyper cuts, cliched gangster speak, and Scorsese, Tarantino, and Coppola rip-offs evidenced in his last few films irritated me so much that the phrase Guy Ritchie-esque or Guy Ritchie-like has been used more than a handful of times in a negative connotation when critiquing hyper-stylized violent films of the last decade.

However, I certainly wasn't alone in my distaste for the overrated writer/director whom Americans just didn't get as much as the Brits (despite my enjoyment of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the far too similar, redundant but entertaining Snatch), especially considering that the horrific remake of Swept Away starring his soon to be ex-wife Madonna was widely known to be one of the worst films ever made. Yet, after viewing his latest opus, RocknRolla, I realized he's made his finest film since Lock, Stock.

Yes, it's still filled with his uniquely hyper visual style but this time it works exceptionally well to add an impressionistic subconscious level to the film, bringing us deeper into the story such as when we see the events inside and outside a nightclub where a musician performs and junkies beat the bouncer or in one of the finest alternatively epic and ridiculous chase scenes of the last few decades of filmmaking (right up there with Raising Arizona) as our anti-heroes led by Gerard Butler try to out-run, out-chase, and out-maneuver a group of Russians whom they'd just ripped off.

He fills an increasingly complicated plot with so many characters you fear that Ritchie should've supplied us with a cheat-sheet to keep them all straight, but luckily he adds at least one clever attribute to differentiate between the overwhelming lot whether it's the guy who always asks stupid questions or the one who likes Jane Austen movies, we're riveted by his attention to detail.

In a film that the press release reveals was inspired by the property boom occurring in London , Ritchie notes that he “wanted to take a humorous look at the consequences of the new school pushing in on the old school,” since he adds that “it goes without saying that because there's so much money involved, there are a lot of people taking advantage of the situation.” To this end, the film introduces us to several levels of players involved in the real estate market and those who are linked by mere association with the colorful group he creates.

The film is headed up by London's number one mobster and red-tape remover, Lenny Cole (the brilliant Tom Wilkinson) as the type of guy who argues that, “there's no school like the old school and I'm the f***in' headmaster." Of course, like all amoral kingpins, Lenny wouldn't be half the criminal he is without his sidekick, Archy (Mark Strong) who teaches his subordinates the art of the perfect face slap “to transfer” those they rough up back to their childhood. Additionally we're also introduced to the ambitious lower-level underworld group called “The Wild Bunch” (Gerard Butler, Idris Elba and Tom Hardy) looking to get into the property racket for themselves.

Thrown into the mix we encounter “the very gifted and financially creative” accountant Stella, played by Thandie Newton who sizzles with sex appeal (not to mention as a woman-- the miraculous ability to sashay her hips without breaking them with each entrance and exit). It seems that Stella's dull life crunching numbers and living with a gay husband sans children finds her all to eager to seek adventure among The Wild Bunch. Using confidential information from her newest client and Lenny's newest acquaintance, the Russian billionaire, Uri (Karel Roden), Stella interferes, leaking details of bags filled with unprotected cash to Butler's Wild Bunch.

Predictably, violence ensues, supplanted by both financial greed as well as the whereabouts of a much coveted painting which Uri travels with and lets Lenny take for a while in the hopes it will bring him luck. When Uri's lucky painting brings unlucky incidents to everyone whose hands it falls into as it changes owners and wall-space throughout the entire movie (although like the glowing briefcase in Pulp Fiction-- itself an homage to Kiss Me Deadly-- we're never quite sure what it looks like), all involved become desperate to track it down.

Also missing is Lenny's rumored-to-be dead junkie rocker nephew-- Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell) who is not only alive but hiding out for maximum profits via the third erroneous “death report” of the year. Spending his days scoring dope, listening to Joe Strummer while his record sales skyrocket and avoiding his American music producers (Jeremy Piven and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), Quid becomes embroiled in his uncle's scheme when the painting falls into his hands as well.

As producer Susan Downey aptly describes the situation in the press release, the film contains all of Ritchie's loved trademarks or more specifically “the eclectic mix of characters, the interweaving storylines that dovetail in ways you didn't see coming, the fascinating ensemble cast, the energy, the distinct visual style...But I also think it has an unexpected emotional layer and depth that I think sets this film apart.”

Similarly, I would add that there's a level of maturity and a tongue-in-cheek or rather less-pretentious air about the film than some of his “boys only club” pictures prior to this one as one character reveals his crush on Gerard Butler in a great, unpredictable scene and we meet a hoodlum who loves to watch Merchant Ivory productions like The Remains of the Day while parked in the neighborhood in his SUV.

Balancing out the surprises is his love of shock and awe whether it's Ritchie's torture device involving American crayfish or poking gentle fun at his countrymen via a robbery so polite that Butler has no problem asking for the keys to a getaway vehicle. Likewise, he uses cinematic references throughout as one junkie unexpectedly misquotes Julie Andrews's much loved tune “The Sound of Music” with the phrase, “the streets are alive with the sound of pain.”

More tightly focused than Ritchie's recent work such as Revolver which was so impossible to understand and over-the-top that I quit watching after only thirty minutes, it's more modern and relevant than his other work in depicting the current state of London as Ritchie described as “the middle of the world in the sense that it's often the last place you go on your way to America, and it's the first place you arrive before you get to Europe.” With a skyline “that's been altered beyond recognition,” as Ritchie continued in the press notes that “if you go to the top of any tall building all you can see are cranes... it looks as though the cranes are breeding...” he decided he wanted to portray the way the “Eastern Bloc nations have gained capital and influence... [thereby changing] the rules of business... [and] the rules of engagement.”

While of course, it's a humorous and off-the-wall look at the situation where extremes and exaggerations serve to up the entertainment ante, it's a much more fascinating scope for the picture from the point-of-view as an American, which is one of the things that turned Piven onto accepting the role as revealed in the release. Intriguingly, in a fictitious landscape of crooked businessmen, mobsters, rock stars, politicians, and thieves, ironically the most innocent characters are the two American record producers trying to get make a name for themselves in the music business who only serve as a gateway from one group of characters to another.

Fast-paced, highly energetic and inventively shot by multiple award-winning cinematographer David Higgis (Cambridge Spies) and chopped by editor James Herbert (Black Book and James Bond's Die Another Day), the high-class look of the film is also aided by talented production designer Richard Bridgland (who began designing stage-work at American opera houses) and former graphic designer and fashion couture gown specialist Suzie Harman who was responsible for costuming the extraordinarily diverse cast.

Much better than I thought it would be-- intriguingly, this week finds two directors striving to return to form as Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri fails to capture the humor and freshness of his 90's work and Guy Ritchie not only reminds us why we were drawn in by him in Lock, Stock but also proves us how much he's grown.

A damn fine achievement and one where the ending reveals plans for a possible sequel, with a screen that names the characters still left standing who may return. Whether or not it's truly in the works is left to be discussed but if so, I for one am in the unique position of actually (for the first time ever) anticipating what's next from Mr. Guy Ritchie.

And man, I can't tell you how nice it is after years of studying film to be legitimately surprised by those who prove us wrong. A bloody-brilliant and jolly good show, as they say in England or as we'd probably say in the states, not only does it not suck but it also manages to kick a little ass at the same time. Rock on, RocknRolla.