Evening one and all. It's another shiny as FFFD.
Tonight, another Jason Statham film after the joy and wonderment of last week's Crank.
Let's see what that balding, hench heartthrob is up to....
Snatch (2000)
I just tried googling Snatch to find a poster for here.......big mistake.
Guy Richie found his fame with a film called Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells which still remains a film highlight on mine and within the space of two years, he had his follow up film, Snatch. Which is a pity because whilst Snatch is individually a strong film, it shows little stylistic or narrative progression from Lock Stock. There is no moving forwards with new, exciting visuals, instead, it remains extremely similar to his previous film. The only difference between the two is that after the success of Lock Stock, Guy Richie is able to command much more recognisable actors to appears in his films, both Brad Pitt and Benicio Del Toro appear in Snatch.
Now, the plot itself is the interlinkining, confusing ball of twine that slowly gets unwound as the film progresses but it fundamentally has two stories. That of the theft of a huge diamond, and that of Turkish (Statham) and his unlicensed boxing woes. The two stories eventually run along the same course and the satisfactory ending deals with both stories equally well. Of course, similar to Lock Stock (a phrase one has to use often when trying to review this film), there is a lot of causality and coincidence to bring all the characters into meetings, most of it is handled in the film's comedic tone, although, there are a few moments which are genuinly chilling, mostly involving the thoroughly unpleasant Alan Ford as Brick Top. (I must say that it is the character who is thoroughly unpleasant, not the actor.)
The script remains strong, the usual cockney banter and a nicely British, off hand witty style make the script move along at a fair old pace. Each of the characters has a nice touch about them that makes the scenes crackle at times. Certainly the highlights tend to involve Vinnie Jones, who seems to revel in his tough guy image, toying at it with a smart streak.
To be fair, I actually really do enjoy this film and it has a lot more to like about it that to dislike about it, it's just the film is simply a rehashing of Lock Stock, and it's not as good. There's no growth from Guy Richie here, it's just a retreading of the same ground but without improvement. I'm glad Guy has found his fame in films because there is a kinetic glory to his films that is infectious, it's just that Snatch, whilst good on it's own account, isn't his strongest work of the same genre, watch Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels instead.
Trailer:
Comments