Guy Ritchie brings us a London gangster comedy in the same vein as his earlier ’Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’, and delivers a similarly fast paced, complex weave of characters and plot that entertains from beginning to end. Sure it’s a lot like Lock Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels, but who cares? It’s pure entertainment. All the characters are great and the movie never has a slow moment.
The main themes involve a vast array of gangsters chasing an enormous diamond, the turbulent and violent world of unlicensed boxing, and a hell of a lot of thugs, some startlingly mean, some funny, & others just plain stupid. Attempting to explain the plot would involve describing a large number of characters and how they relate to each other. Hats off to Ritchie for managing to draw such a complex set-up in such a short period of time and have it make sense, and this is achieved with some amazing editing and film techniques.
This is the type of movie you need to see twice, simply because the plot is so busy that you might miss something first time round. There are some hilarious scenes, with some amazing fights in the ring using excellent camera techniques.
This is the kind of movie that allows the audience to sit back and let the images and sounds wash over it. Its a wild & crazy ride every minute worth enjoying. You can make out enough words to sort of follow along, and Ritchie is juggling so many situations that before long you’ll find something to laugh at. It’s all very hip and stylish. Ritchie keeps it visually lively - Catch Avi’s instantaneous flights to and from London. Another example: Benicio Del Toro plays Franky Four Fingers, a man who loves to gamble. Whenever someone mentions gambling, we’re treated to a lightning-fast scenes of Franky as a gambler dude flanked by beautiful women.
For such a character based film it is essential to get the right actors, those with the right look and feel and capable of an authentic accent, and again Ritchie hits the mark. Many just appear to be playing themselves. I loved the 2 stupid niggers who just cant do anything right.I just loved the soccer player turned actor Vinnie Jones and think that his presence in any action film can help it ten-fold. Jason Statham, from original Lock Stock... is the narrator of the movie thro’ whos eyes we see everything & he is good too. Then there is the surprise of Brad Pitt playing the Irish Gypsy Mickey. Ritchie casts him perfectly as a gypsy boxer with a killer punch and an Irish accent almost impossible to understand(forget us , even the other guys in the movie had a tough time making out what he spoke). This is the first time I could bear with Brad Pitt.This is the kind of stuff he should be doing. And this is a role which would have made him as famous as he is today even if he was an total newcomer. And thats coming from a hard core Brad Pitt hater -thats me...so all u fans of Brad Pitt this is one movie u wouldnt wanna miss for anything in this world.
In the end comparisons with LOCK STOCK...becomes inevitable , the reasons being similar plot, style & characters in both the movies which takes a little shine out of this one.But then if SNATCH was Ritchie’s first movie i’m sure people would have gone crazy for this one too.While I gave LOCK STOCK ... 5 stars, Snatch will get 4 stars from me. But Snatch will likely grab those who like their movies fast, furious and fun.