Gerard Butler’s cult hit RocknRolla, featuring Tom Hardy, is now accessible without ads via Roku’s new streaming service, Howdy. Once only offered for rent or purchase, this 2008 crime thriller has found a fresh audience through this affordable, ad-free platform.
Before Gerard Butler became known for action roles in the Has Fallen series and Tom Hardy for his acclaimed part in Mad Max: Fury Road, the pair starred together in one of Guy Ritchie’s most underrated movies. RocknRolla showcases Ritchie’s distinct style and storytelling, set once again in the gritty London underground where crime and chaos intertwine.
The Film’s Place in Guy Ritchie’s London Crime Universe
RocknRolla was Guy Ritchie’s fifth feature film, following his early successes like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and Revolver. Although it earned a modest $25 million at the box office, the movie has since developed a devoted following. It combines the director’s signature elements: fast-paced dialogue, intricate plots, and vivid characters immersed in the criminal underground.
The cast extends beyond Butler and Hardy, including notable actors Idris Elba, Tom Wilkinson, Thandiwe Newton, Mark Strong, Toby Kebbell, and Jeremy Piven. Their performances contribute to the film’s intense and moody atmosphere, addressing themes of power struggles and deception. Critically, opinions were mixed, but Roger Ebert remarked that it was a lot of fun, highlighting its entertaining nature despite its darker tone compared to Ritchie’s earlier works.
The film‘s plot centers on this description:
“Old-school mobster Lenny Cole (Wilkinson) rules London’s underworld with an iron fist and a score of well-greased palms. As big-time gangsters and petty crooks all scramble to get their cut of a Russian mobster’s crooked land deal, street-wise hustler One Two (Butler) tries to play both sides of the fence as the lucrative deal falls into the lap of Lenny’s presumed-dead son.” —Source Material
Prospects for a RocknRolla Sequel Remain Uncertain
Although RocknRolla ended with a title card teasing a follow-up—
Johnny, Archy and the Wild Bunch will be back in The Real RocknRolla
—a sequel has yet to materialize. Despite Guy Ritchie‘s acknowledgment that a script has been completed, no studio has officially greenlit the project, and it has stagnated in development for the past 17 years.
One obstacle lies in an ongoing legal dispute involving Guy Ritchie and Mickey de Hara, who claims he was hired to pen the RocknRolla sequel script drawing from his own life experiences. De Hara alleges that parts of his script were allegedly used in Ritchie’s 2019 film The Gentlemen without proper credit, a claim Ritchie disputes. This unresolved issue further clouds the sequel’s future.
Meanwhile, Guy Ritchie is active with new projects, including the action thriller In the Grey starring Henry Cavill, which is currently in post-production, and the black comedy Wife & Dog, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike, and Anthony Hopkins, still filming at this time. These priorities suggest RocknRolla’s continuation is not imminent.
Accessible Viewing on Roku’s Affordable Howdy Platform
For fans eager to revisit or discover RocknRolla, it is now available on Howdy, Roku’s new subscription service offering movies and TV shows without ads. Priced at $2.99 per month, Howdy presents a cost-effective alternative amidst rising fees on major streaming services like Netflix and Disney+.
This streaming release gives renewed life to Gerard Butler’s 2008 collaboration with Tom Hardy, allowing a broader audience to experience Guy Ritchie’s distinct London crime narrative.
