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Snatch by Michael Atkinson Saying that Guy Ritchie's first film, the hyperventilating Road Runner crime hoot Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, was an empty, over-clever, Tarantino-derived stunt is not saying anything too controversial; even adoring fans will allow that its bloody giggles don't stand up to thought, or even a second viewing. But it doesn't mean the film's nasty energy wasn't easy to enjoy, or that the frantic density of the thing wasn't memorable. It impressed audiences enough to encourage Ritchie to do it all over again, this time sans the Cockney rhyming slang that made the debut movie go down lumpily with some non-Brit viewers. From the gitgo, Snatch is a virtual remake of Lock, Stock, in form, content, texture and jittery cleverness. It's just as Rube Goldberg-ish, just as derivative and just as sallow, but it is also just as funny, just as violent, and just as tritely fabulicious. The plot revolves around a golf-ball-sized diamond, but explicating the strands of Ritchie's often pointlessly convoluted maze would be futile. Suffice it to note that the chaos entails more than 20 characters, each one of them simply but hilariously conceived. PAGE 1 | 2 |
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Benicio Del Toro doesn't quite rock with the part of a four-fingered Israeli smuggler like you hope he would, but Dennis Farina (as a type-A American Jew with nothing good to say about England) is a riot, and ex-soccer thug Vinnie Jones lends authentic menace to an unkillable hitman named Bullet Tooth Tony. As the central bloke stuck in the middle (who also gets the deftly written narration), Jason Statham has one note to play: cynical Cockney tough guy. Perhaps the most entertaining character is Brad Pitt's Mickey O'Neil, a sly Gypsy "traveller" who's lured into the boxing ring as a fall guy and who turns out to be an unbeatable, untouchable human Jack-in-the-box. Ritchie's amused depiction of Gypsy culture in the U.K. and the common animus directed toward it, is astute and witty, but Pitt's portrayal--nobody but other travellers can quite understand Mickey when he talks--is a rip. Whenever he's not around, you wish much more of Snatch was devoted to Mickey, and a lot less to plot convolutions whose only purpose is to display the filmmakers snarky attitude. What did you think of this movie? Sound off in the Movie Forum. PAGE 1 | 2 |