Ritchie’s new film is ‘Rockn’

The British gangsters in “RocknRolla” are no different than American gangsters or the Italian mafia, but there’s never been a definitive name for them. The title doesn’t have much to do with the movie, but it’s about time the thugs across the pond have their own moniker.

Lenny (Tom Wilkinson) is the big mob boss around London. He controls all the property around town and makes it multiply in value. He gets the building rights the city won’t give to anyone else, and that’s why Lenny owns the town. All the other primary characters go through him in one way or the other.

First, there’s One Two (Gerard Butler), who owes Lenny money. Then there’s Uri (Karel Roden), the Russian who wants to do business. He is prepared to pay Lenny 7 million Euros, but One Two plans to steal them. Uri also gives Lenny his “lucky painting,” which draws a lot of attention when Lenny’s stepson Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell) steals it from Lenny.

Guy Ritchie directs the film, whose previous works about British gangsters (“Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch”) are likewise laden with plot and characters whose motives couldn’t seem more different but that all tie together by the end of the film.

In hybrid dramadies like this one, the director must rely on dialogue and not suspense to keep the audience interested. Ritchie capitalizes on a heavy, fast-paced British dialect that manages to keep attentiveness but lacks the witty flair that made his previous films standouts.

It’s not that this film isn’t good. It’s entertaining, with an ending that does turn out to be remarkable and stylistic. It’s just that it could be so much more.

With the same old story, there isn’t much that particularly stands out, nor is there much more to recommend. Yet until the next one, “RocknRolla” will satisfy fans of this genre that Ritchie has dominated for so long.