"another Lock Stock/Snatch clone - but not as good"

This was one of the weirdest and coolest screenings I've ever been to. Set in a club under a bridge, the team behind the film set about recreating the surroundings from the film in an enclosed environment. It was bizarre, as about 10% of the people there were hired extras acting as if the hundreds of punters weren't even there - even going so far as to cheer on a recorded horse race on TV!

As we all settled down into a packed room for the film, I was really looking forward to it. I'd loved Lock Stock and Snatch is up there as one of my favourite ever films, and after the horror of Revolver I thought it was about time for another Guy Ritchie gangster cracker.

Turns out I was wrong. All that's happened here is a mishmash of Lock Stock and Snatch, but without any of the humour or panache. The key factors behind the success of Lock Stock and Snatch were the characters - you loved the good guys, you loved the bad guys, and you love the myriad of random characters in between.

RocknRolla just did not have that effect of me at all. I didn't care about the characters, and were it not for the last 15 minutes would have enjoyed very little of the film at all. Thinking about it, that sounds a bit harsh. It's not that it's a terrible film, but in comparison to Lock Stock and Snatch (to which it will inevitably be compared), it just doesn't stack up.

If Guy Ritchie wants to relive the success that he found as a result of Lock Stock and Snatch, then he's going to have to do what those films did - break the mould, and come up with something new and inventive - not just rehash the same old story and characters.