Review by Victor Olliver - Against all expectations Guy Ritchie has made his first excellent movie since marrying Madonna eight years ago. What kept him?

Back in December 2000 he wed the Queen of Pop, and Snatch was already out in the UK. The later horrors of Revolver and Swept Away were fit for Razzie-dom.

The Guy returns in Lock, Stock style - and his "guns, girls and geezers" find our movie G-spot once again.

We know the Ritchie schtick by now - London gangs, smart movie tricks, the cross-weave plotting - but we shouldn't moan. What matters is whether he has - like his missus - got better with age.

On the strength of RocknRolla the answer is an unequivocal yes.

His black farce comes with the usual swagger and crazy voltage. The years have now given him coherence, and made him a lot smarter. His IQ has gone up.

Ritchie's London is no longer the city he once knew. American crayfish are the new torture device while shady Russian oligarchs are buying up the turf.

Old school mobster Lenny (excellent Tom Wilkinson) can swing a land deal for Russian billionaire Uri for seven million Euros. Note the currency.

When Uri's "lucky picture" is stolen and Lenny's psycho rock star stepson Johnny Quid stirs, trouble kicks in.

Linking the foreign invaders and London mobsters is double-dealing accountant Stella: Thandie Newton naughtily models herself on the thin Mrs V Beckham look.

Newton features in at least two of the film's great moments. There's her dance with Gerard Butler - the music is so deafening that speech bubbles pop up.

Their later sex scene is a five second sequence of micro-moments culminating in a gasp. A great movie sex send-up.

Dark comedy lurks everwhere - the marathon pursuit of three thieving Brit mobsters by two Russian man-mountains has cartoony Road Runner touches.

Yes, we've seen some of the like before in Ritchie movies. But the whole here is funnier, slicker, more disciplined.

A raucous soundtrack of metal (nu, heavy, thrash, whatever) fuels the target testosterone. Boys love to watch boys in Ritchie's world. Verdict: 4/5