The latest London gangland flick from the stable that brought us contemporary classics 'Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels' and its sequel, 'Snatch', has to work hard if it's to distance itself from 2005's much maligned 'Revolver', let alone meet the standards of its spiritual predecessors. For the uninitiated, or indeed, for anybody who's not a wheeling-dealing Cockney geezer, a RocknRolla is a "man who derives his living off the streets by using his wits and raw drive".

The film focuses on a section of London's criminal fraternity with such aspirations, as they try to get a slice of a multi million pound real estate scam set up between a Russian Mobster and old school gangster Lenny Cole. Various shady characters, including One-two (Gerard Butler), Stella the accountant (Thandie Newton), and junkie rock-star Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell), all try to get a piece of the action – but do any of them have what it takes to be a real RocknRolla?

Ritchie's films are usually an ensemble piece and, whilst his latest is no exception, Gerard Butler's charismatic small time crook One-two is as close to a lead as the writer director has ever got. It's refreshing to have a Scot playing such a key role, and his performance is a well-balanced combination of good humoured charm and roughneck intensity. As you'd expect from 300's lead Spartan, he takes the action sequences in his stride and does a great line in testosterone fuelled banter with the rest of his crew; the 'Wild Bunch'. As Lenny Cole, Tom Wilkinson is suitably egotistical and vicious as the bad guy of the piece, but he doesn't have the smarts, the torture techniques, or mercilessness of Ritchie's other creations – particularly Snatch's Brick-top. Johnny Quid is Tyler Durden on crack, and he exhibits a cocky impudence that is further evidence that Toby Kebbell is a young actor with a very bright future. Thandie Newton is on femme fatale duty as the soulless accountant who betrays her clients for a piece of the action, she's manipulative but nowhere near as intelligent as her character would have you believe. The rest of the cast forage for their moment of screen time glory to varying success.

As you'd expect from Ritchie's vision of the criminal underworld, the film is infused with sickening violence and the threads of the plot eventually tie up to bring all of the misfits and mobsters together. It also has all the trademark gritty brown hues, spliced up imagery of London's skyline and a wealth of fast paced editing. What it doesn't have though, is the wealth of witty dialogue and convoluted plot extravagances that we've come to expect. Instead, the screenplay resorts to racist slurs and reduces pop culture references to mimicking scenes better executed in other films. In particular, the Pulp Fiction jives between One-two and Stella at a lifeless "party" is an unconvincing aberration that should never have made the final cut.

RocknRolla feels like a dumbed-down, diluted take on the genre that Ritchie created with the release of Lock, Stock and the result is a parody which sacrifices many of the qualities that made the director an overnight success. It's a mishmash of unoriginal ideas that throws a great cast into a lack-lustre, feeble scenario with a script that leaves them impotent for the majority of the running time. It's not a complete lost cause – it's more consistent than 'Revolver' and there's some haphazard amusement to be gleaned, but Mr Madonna needs to raise his game if he's to continue the trilogy that he's supposedly envisaged. RocknRolla is more style and substance abuse over real substance and it lacks the wit, the drive, and the aspirations that the title suggests.

Rating:**

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