18 Years Later, Tom Hardy's Crime Thriller Breakout Role Keeps Getting Better

For many viewers Tom Hardy rose to prominence through his collaboration with Christopher Nolan. After his genuinely entertaining role in Inception, he appeared in The Dark Knight Rises and Dunkirk, and found fan acclaim with television work in Peaky Blinders and fan-favorite characters like Mad Max.

His early work remains compelling, particularly his starring turn in Guy Ritchie’s 2008 crime film RocknRolla, which has earned a cult following. RocknRolla centers on the Wild Bunch—One-Two (Gerard Butler), Handsome Bob (Tom Hardy) and Mr. Mumbles (Idris Elba)—a small criminal crew that stumbles into trouble above their pay grade.

When Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson) is robbed by his rockstar stepson Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell), the trio is drawn into the fallout, and Bob faces a supposed five-year prison term that becomes the film’s emotional hinge. Hardy’s Bob provides the closest thing the film has to a heart.

tom hardy, rocknrolla, guy ritchie, gerard butler, idris elba, toby kebbell, tom wilkinson, handsome bob, wild bunch, crime film