Guy Ritchie - two smoking barrels become a revolver

Guy Ritchie has gone back to making what he's so good at – gritty, hilarious British bad boy gangster flicks.

Oct 13 2004

After his disastrous diversification into comedy romance in 2002 with Swept Away, which starred his wife Madge, it's no wonder that Guy Ritchie has gone back to making what he's so damn good at – gritty, hilarious British bad boy gangster flicks.

And we're pleased he has. Just so long that his next film Revolver isn't a remake of Lock Stock with an American as the lead.

Unfortunately though the plot does sound a tinsy bit familiar; gambler Jake Green (Jason Stratham) sits in on a private card game with crime boss Macha (Ray Liotta), but leaves as a marked man. Isn't that what happened to Eddie (Nick Moran) in Lock Stock, who ended up owing mobster Hatchet Harry half a million at the end of an evening's poker playing?

But there are some significant differences. The biggest being that Revolver is co-produced by M Luc Besson (Leon, The Fifth Element, Nil by Mouth) - Matthew Vaughn is busy with his own hugely successful directorial debut, Layer Cake. It is also the first time Ritchie hasn't written the script entirely by himself; he’s co-written it with Paul Todisco, who has recently reworked the '70s sci-fi classic Logan's Run.

The good news is that it stars two old pros at the gangster genre, Ray Liotta, who played the unforgettable mobster turned stool-pigeon Henry Hill in Goodfellas, and our very own (now Hollywood star – sort of) Jason Stratham (Lock Stock, Chaos, Collateral and Cellular).