Snatch is
Guy Ritchie’s follow-up to Lock, Stock
and Two Smoking Barrels and you can definitely tell. It’s very much like
that last film which is both its saving grace and its Achilles heel, resulting
in a good but not great movie. But still one entertaining enough to seek out.
Boxing promoters Turkish
(Jason Statham) and Tommy (Stephen Graham) convince a dangerous gangster called
Brick Top (Alan Ford) to add their champion to the bets of his bookies. However
that champion is injured and they’re forced to replace him with the man who
injured him: an incomprehensible Irish gypsy (“pikey”) Mickey O’Neil (Brad
Pitt) who may get them into further trouble with the mobster. Meanwhile the
architect of a major heist in Antwerp Franky “Four Fingers” (Benicio del Toro)
is delivering the prize diamond to Doug (Mike Reid) the British cousin of New
York jeweller Avi (Denis Farino), but his gun-seller Boris “the Blade” (Rade
Serbedzija) looks to steal it himself.
There are certainly
similarities this film shares with Ritchie’s previous effort and while some are
still fun and welcome, others feel pretty repetitive. The structure of the plot
where there are two storylines that will inevitably merge by the end could have
been reworked a little more creatively. And they don’t intersect as much as in
the former film, but when they do, it can be pretty funny. That black comedy
tone is very prominent in this film arguably more than the last. I attribute
that mostly to the characters, but not entirely the ones the film intended.
Another aspect of Lock, Stock that
this film reprised were the comic relief henchmen. While it was fairly new and
engaging in the previous film to see bumbling idiots involved to this level in
the criminal world, the ones here don’t add anything new, and are unfortunately
tired and unfunny and I think the film dedicated too much time to them. I would
rather have seen more of the other characters who actually leave more of an
impression than those in Lock, Stock.
There’s a return of many of
Ritchie’s troupe from his last film including Statham, Ford, Vinnie Jones, and
Jason Flemying, but they’re not all that interesting. I definitely prefer
Statham in a supporting role. As the (arguable) lead he’s still got a coolness
about him, but doesn’t do a whole lot and really isn’t that good of an actor. I
can see why he was able to make the transition to action movies though, and
maybe these traits work better there. If his storyline was mostly following him
it would be pretty dull, so thank god for Stephen Graham. Graham who’s now best
known for playing a much more infamous gangster Al Capone on Boardwalk Empire, makes the most of his
character Tommy, being a much more successful comic relief and a nice contrast
both in physicality and personality from Turkish. If I were seeing this film
for the first time in 2000 Graham’s the one of the pair I’d want to see more
of, and still do. Vinnie Jones stands out alright again due to his dominant
physique and deadpan attitude (there’s a great scene where he and the idiots
have a confrontation in a pub), but he’s not in it a whole lot and is generally
just playing the same part he did in Lock,
Stock not really giving him a chance to show any range. It’s unfortunate to
say but in this British gangster film the performances that stand out best are
the ones that aren’t British! It’s such a ridiculous idea to cast Brad Pitt as
an Irish bare-knuckle boxer but it strangely works. It doesn’t feel like Pitt’s
there entirely because of his name recognition and his performance is
intentionally corny. Not once do you believe he’s really Irish but he plays it
up so enthusiastically that you buy it in context. Dennis Farina is pretty fun
too as Cousin Avi an American unused to the dirty work but determined to get
his diamond. Through him we get some funny clashing of cultures with him
demanding the English speak “English”, etc. possibly echoing the thoughts of
some Americans watching the film. He’s also got a fantastic delivery on his
last line! Rade Serbedzija is remarkably intense and entertaining as the insane
Boris. And then there’s Benicio del Toro! Who ever thought they’d see del Toro
enter a film dressed as a rabbi and starting a shoot-‘em-up. As Frankie “Four
Fingers” he is hilarious with an out of nowhere accent, and a crippling
gambling addiction. He’s not in the film a whole lot but he certainly makes it
a lot better!
To Guy Ritchie’s credit he
distances the style of this film from Lock,
Stock at least in a few important areas. While this is still a fast-paced
film with some energized action and quick cuts, Ritchie makes a few new choices
in terms of his use of shots and cinematography. There are a few times we come
into a scene through a fast revolving shot from above, for instance. The
editing is also very tight which especially works to the comedy and dialogue.
The opening features a montage of all the characters with their names (you’re
guaranteed to forget at least a few of them) and splattered backgrounds which
sets the tone for the film, even if it goes a little long. And it’s a way to
save on a narrator having to introduce each character as they show up (though
Statham still does that to a fair degree).
We also see the start of one of Guy Ritchie’s tropes that he has since frequently
used in Sherlock Holmes and
especially The Man from U.N.C.L.E.;
that being through slightly non-linear storytelling to show a different
perspective on a seemingly inconsequential action or development that gives it
much greater significance. In short, the heist movie cop out, but not a cop
out. And Ritchie’s pretty good at playing them out, and unlike some of his
later films, only plays it an appropriate amount of times here.
Snatch is
not quite the British gangster tour de force that Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was, faltering on some
repetitive tricks, story devices, and character types. But it does have some
fun action, good dark humour, a still engaging directing style, and very
memorable characters making for a quintessentially British and by and large enjoyable
gangster flick.
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