Snatch - Lo strappo

"Snatch" is fantastic; and not least because it demonstrates emphatically that the British movie industry is capable of rivaling even the best of what Hollywood can offer.

"Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" was one of the funniest movies released in recent years, and "Snatch" takes everything that "Lock, Stock..." did so well and does it even better.

Back are the cleverly intertwined plotlines, the hilarious one-liners, and the simultaneously intimidating and comedic London villains. So is the skillful editing, and often original cinematographic style. This time however, it all looks somewhat slicker and better funded, and alongside the British regulars are the odd American celebrity (Brad Pitt, Benicio Del Toro).

Everyone in the film puts in an excellent performance, but Pitt stands out as a charismatic and near-incomprehensible Gypsy boxer.

Like Ritchie's earlier film, this one takes a little while to find its feet, but once it does the pace doesn't slacken until the finale. One scene featuring three guys and a squeaking dog in a stolen car stands out particularly, and left the audience at my local cinema almost weeping as punchline after punchline was uttered.

When it comes to comedies, I cannot recommend this one highly enough. If you're after a good laugh, you won't find much to better "Snatch".

A film about boxing, diamonds, gangsters pretending to be Jews, a fat getaway driver, a rather vicious dog and man eating pigs. Guy Richie has followed the success of Lock, Stock with an equally stunning and ambitious return just as Tarantino did with Pulp Fiction. The characters are so colourful they jump right off the screen, the dialogue so snappy you want to learn it by heart and the acting simply wonderful. Vinnie Jones reveals he can act and Brad Pitt shows that he is far more than a pretty face and could well win a best supporting actor oscar for his role as Irish Mickey. See this movie!!!!

The release of Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" in 1994 prompted a schism in the staid gangster movie genre: the standard hallmarks - serious characters, gunfights, intrigue and damsels in distress - were enhanced with snappy dialogue, and gallows humour. The biggest change however was the introduction of the mobius strip-style plot line, where the concept of time is no longer linear, instead constantly folding in upon itself, flitting between past, present and future that forces the viewer to pay close attention lest they miss some subtle detail. Inevitably, numerous copycat films emerged that tried to capitalize on Tarantino's success, but it wasn't until 1998 when Guy Ritchie, an unknown British director, took on the challenge that a successor was found. Now Ritchie is determined to prove that his first time out wasn't a fluke.

Turkish is a young man with an entrepreneurial bent, who, when he's not running his gambling operation, manages bareknuckle boxers. Through a business deal gone wrong, he becomes acquainted with one Mickey O'Neil, a mumbling manic motor-mouthed piker who also happens to be a one-punch marvel. Turkish persuades Mickey to join his stable of fighters, but soon discovers that Mickey has his own agenda, and gets Turkish in trouble with the gangsters who run the underground boxing circuit. Other characters that become involved in the drama include a four-fingered degenerate gambler/jewel thief, a vicious boxing promoter, a gang of inept robbers, a polite hitman, a crazed Russian gun runner, a group of Irish gypsies, a crooked New York jeweler and a pugnacious pet. The common thread binding them all is a perfect diamond the size of a peach pit. If you aren't confused yet, you soon will be.

"Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", Mr. Madonna's (Ritchie) first film, was shot on a small budget, with a no-name cast (except for football bad boy Vinnie Jones) and quickly became a rousing success at home and found receptive audiences abroad. While not a technically a sequel "Snatch" is stylistically very similar to "Lock, Stock…": Ritchie utilizes his trademark bombastic staccato sequences, and repeatedly bounces off on radical tangents to throw the viewer off balance. He did however opt for a decidedly darker satirical tone in this film, that may make some people uncomfortable (think "Very Bad Things"). What struck me as particularly daring was his decision to create a story with such a voluminous cast.

Ritchie faced a daunting task with this film: how, with roughly twenty principal characters, does one adequately flesh out each character, and not hopelessly confuse the audience? The feat was made doubly difficult, as several cast members are big name stars. Somehow Ritchie manages - each actor is full bodied, receives ample screen time, and no one character is the centerpiece. With so many talented actors, it is difficult to pick out one performance that stands out: Rade Serbedzija is hilarious as the mad Russian who blithely burns through each of his nine lives, as is Vinnie Jones' manic gentleman hitman. On the other end of the spectrum, is Alan Ford as Brick Top, the promoter with a penchant for pigs, who epitomizes cold-blooded viciousness. If forced to pick my favorite however, I would have to go with Brad Pitt

Pitt resurrects his trailer trash look from "Kalifornia" and adopts a nearly indecipherable brogue that sounds like my best friend's Uncle Wally on a bad day. As Mickey O'Neil, the hard drinking wily grifter and part-time pugilist, Pitt displays a wide range of emotions, demonstrating again that he is not only a star, but also a gifted character actor. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the dog that subtly stole every scene he appeared in.

While "Snatch" initially struggles to find its stride, and is very similar to Ritchie's earlier film, it is fresh and funny enough to make you forget any minor shortfalls and stand on its own.

This movie is perfect in all its categories: credits, sound track, production, casting, writing, photography, editing, acting, and direction. 10/10.

I was amazed with the freedom of the use of the camera. This movie will change the way movies are made. Slow-mo, stills, black and white, and color were all used to brilliant effect.

I must pick out specific actors who were just over the top - meaning 10+!

Jason Statham as "Turkish" is simply superb - a star of very high caliber. (You should see him in anything he made, and read my comment about John Carpenter's movie: "Ghosts of Mars.")

Alan Ford as "Brick Top" is terrifying - his forced speaking style made me think that he was chewing on the flesh of his previous victim.

Vinnie Jones as "Bullet Tooth Tony" is total tough head to foot tough - a walking brick wall - a marine for all seasons - none tougher.

Brad Pitt as "Mickey O'Neil" is utterly 110% convincing. I never liked Mr. Pitt's work before this - but this one totally sold me - he is as solid an actor as ever came out of Hollywood... and better!

Finally, Guy Ritchie should be recognized as a Michelangelo of film.

-LD

`Snatch', written and directed by Guy Ritchie is by far one of my favorite films of all time – it is easily in my personal Top Thirty. In the film, about (what else?) several schemes that happen to go very wrong yet manage to intertwine and (for better or worse) resolve themselves in the end, Ritchie assembles one of the funniest cast of characters in recent memory. Let's see if we can keep this straight:

Turkish (Jason Statham) and his partner Tommy (Stephen Graham) are amateur boxing promoters who, after their premier fighter is wounded, have to find a replacement to fight, or one of the meanest guys in London, Brick Top (Alan Ford), who just happens to run the boxing matches and stands to make a lot of money off of the fight is going to impart his unique brand of justice on them. Enter Mickey (Brad Pitt) the gypsy who knocked their fighter out, who is an unintelligible drunk with quite a right hook. Meanwhile, there is a diamond `the size of a fist' that has been stolen by Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro). On his way back from London to America where he is planning on fencing the diamond, trouble ensues, and his fence, Cousin Avi (Dennis Farina) is forced to come to London to find both Franky and the diamond with the help of characters like Bullet Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) and Doug `The Head' Denovitz (Mike Reid). Of course, this can't happen easily, as there are a trio of inept thieves on the trail of the diamond as well as my personal favorite character in the film, Boris `The Blade' Yurinov (Rade Serbedzija) – or as he's better known, `Boris the Bullet Dodger'.

Did you get all that? The performances by all of the above actors, and several more that I didn't even mention are all really good, particularly Brad Pitt's. Every single actor in `Snatch' looks like they are having one hell of a good time working in the film. This story, while complex and with many ramifications from the core plot is absolutely brilliant and a lot of fun. There are many one-liners that I still personally use four years after first seeing the film, and the intricate weaving of the characters to tell a very simple heist story is just SO good. `Snatch' would be a great film due to its story alone, but Guy Ritchie's direction is so dead on, the film transcends brilliant and becomes FAN-insert your choice of expletive here-TASTIC. The slick cinematography, lightning-fast pacing and fun camera angles are right on target with the story. Add on a great soundtrack that spans Oasis, techno and a traditional-sounding Hasidic song and Ritchie has presented the viewer with an instant classic.

While this was not the first time I had seen the film `Snatch', it was the first time I'd watched the film knowing that I would have to analyze it slightly in order to funnel my thoughts from the film just being `Phenomenal!' to `Phenomenal because…..' While I can certainly be classified as an unabashed Madonna fan, and have been for the last two decades, I REALLY hope that Ritchie decides to drop his wife from his film work and not continue on the `Swept Away' path, rather, to get back to the work that has earned him well-deserved high praise. Sorry Madge.

--Shelly