Guy Ritchie’s latest outing is called “RocknRolla,” and it is an attempt to return to his initial style of movie making, the one that turned him into a top class director: “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch.” The sad thing is that he actually fails at doing that. “RocknRolla” not only lacks glamour, but could easily be regarded as superficial as well.

When a Russian mobster sets up a real estate scam that generates millions of pounds, various members of London's criminal underworld pursue their share of the fortune. Various characters strive to get their share. "RocknRolla's" plot centers around the hunt for a painting that belongs to a Russian mobster named Uri, (Karel Roden) who's trying to muscle his way into London's real estate boom with the help of old-school gangster Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson). Unfortunately this painting is far from being a credible plot catalyst. Instead it just seems to be used for its own sake, nothing more.

We also have Mumbles (Idris Elba) in our story and One Two ( Gerard Butler), a pair of small-timers rushing to pay off a debt to Lenny before they start losing body parts, and Stella ( Thandie Newton), a numbers whiz who sells them the location of the bank where the Russian is preparing to make a major withdrawal. There's Archie (Mark Strong), Lenny's fearsome enforcer, who reminds his thugs to keep their receipts.

As is typical of Ritchie movies, many things are happening simultaneously and frantically. Butler's character falls for Stella, Archie takes abuse from his boss, and a drug-addled rock star named Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell) is also involved. The latter is actually a violent rock star inspired from various clichés, who has faked his own death to increase his fame. His family connections turn out to be fiendishly complicated and compromising.

If you crave for some shallow action, this is the movie for you.