Snatch (2000)
Comedy | Crime | Thriller
"A rock-'em sock-'em caper with energy to spare." -Rolling Stone
When jewel thief Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) takes a slight detour to London on route to delivering a huge stolen diamond to his boss in New York, he unwittingly sets off an avalanche of sinister and comic events that wind their way through the
rough and tumble worlds of bare-knuckle boxing, Irish gypsies, pawn shops, pig farming and… a stray dog.
Snatch, Guy Ritchie's brilliant follow up to his critically acclaimed Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, exposes us to his hip and helter-skelter view of London's gangster underbelly. Ritchie's characteristic fast-paced and constantly twisting story
features a madcap ensemble cast of larger-than-life characters, including Jason Statham, an unlicensed boxing promoter, Stephen Graham, his bumbling Sidekick; Alan Ford, the local underworld kingpin; Dennis Farina, Franky's no-nonsense boss; Vinnie Jones,
a legendary thug; Rade Sherbedgia, a psycho double-crossing Russian; and Brad Pitt, in a hilarious turn as a fast-talking gypsy bare-knuckle boxer.
Storyline: Turkish and his close friend/accomplice Tommy get pulled into the world of match fixing by the notorious Brick Top. Things get complicated when the boxer they had lined up gets badly beaten by Pitt, a 'pikey' ( slang
for an Irish Gypsy)- who comes into the equation after Turkish, an unlicensed boxing promoter wants to buy a caravan off the Irish Gypsies. They then try to convince Pitt not only to fight for them, but to lose for them too. Whilst all this is going on, a
huge diamond heist takes place, and a fistful of motley characters enter the story, including 'Cousin Avi', 'Boris The Blade', 'Franky Four Fingers' and 'Bullet Tooth Tony'. Things go from bad to worse as it all becomes about the money, the guns, and the
damned dog! Written by Filmtwob
User Comment: ratpac03 (ratpac03@charter.net) from Pittsburgh, PA • 14 March 2004 -- Read this review carefully, please.
First off, Snatch is an amazing movie in every sense of the word. There are very few movies made where the director obviously did not let one FRAME onto the screen without a reason, and Snatch is one of them. Nothing happens onscreen without it having an
effect on the plot.
By now you know the plot, or plots. We follow a diamond-heist and the various characters trying to get theirs, at the same time following participants in an illegal boxing ring. The incredible part of the movie is how every scene ties in with the rest
somehow, every character connects with the rest at least once.
There are complaints that the movie is confusing, or muddled. There are a lot of things that they don't tell you (such as what the dog has to do with anything, but he's a VERY important character), and that's a good thing. Too many movies force feed the
audience its plot points (Think The Ring vs. Ringu, did we need the "How long could you survive down there all alone?" line?). Rather, we just watch occurrences, and have to piece together what ties everything together, the plot weaves together
beautifully.
The cinematography and performances are fantastic as well. Even the soundtrack is perfect. The camera style during the fight scenes (slowdown/stop/go) makes it difficult to stop watching, the sound effects fit in quietly in the background without being
overwhelming. And it will be IMPOSSIBLE to watch this movie without repeating many of the lines around your friends. I found myself saying "Zee Germans" and things like "It's not like he's a set of car keys, now is it?" quite a bit. Naturally, Brad Pitt's
pikey is one of the most outlandish I've ever seen.
Summary: watch the movie, and don't expect to be TOLD everything, expect to have to pay attention.
Summary: The way movies -should- be made.
--- JOYA ---
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