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copyright ©1999-2001
DigsMagazine.com.
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flick pick
| Snatch
2000
Directed + written by:
Guy Ritchie
Starring: Benicio
del Toro, Dennis Farina, Vinnie Jones, Brad Pitt, Rade
Sherbedgia, Jason Statham
Language: English
Look for it at the video store under:
comedy
Watch it when you’re in the mood
for something: action-packed,
darkly
comic,
hip
|
The
critic says:
 ½/ 5 the rating
system explained
Fun factor:
/ 5 |
Plot synopsis
On his way back to New York with an 84 carat
stolen diamond, Franky Four Fingers makes a brief stop in London – or
so he originally plans, anyway. One of his Russian partners in the
diamond heist has advised him to see Boris the Blade, the Russian’s
cousin, supposedly so that Franky can get a new gun. The real plan is to
steal the diamond from Franky, but, the cousin warns, Boris can’t do
the deed himself -- there must be no way for the New York diamond
dealers to trace the theft back to the Russians. So Boris contracts two
rather inept pawn brokers to do the dirty work. He sends Franky, who can’t
resist the lure of gambling, on a trip to the bookie to place a bet for
him on an illegal boxing match, then tells the pawn brokers to wait for
Franky there. When they see the four-fingered man with the briefcase
enter the bookie’s place, they’re to burst in and hold up the bookie
– keeping the bookie’s loot for themselves, and bringing the
precious stone back to Boris. Nothing, naturally, goes as planned, and
the chain reaction of events that ensues brings Boris, Franky and the
pawnbrokers into the convoluted happenings of the world of crime kingpin
Brick Top, owner of the bookie shop and a slew of other shady
businesses, as well as the organizer of the aforementioned boxing match.
Which, actually, is currently the source of a great deal of
consternation for Brick Top, since the crazy Irish Gypsy that his
promoter Turkish has dug up to fight for him has an irritating habit of
refusing to go down as instructed.
Review Snatch
is, essentially, a sort of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Redux.
The London criminal underworld setting is the same, the clever
camerawork and flashy editing likewise … even the characters seem
virtually indistinguishable from the quirky thugs and lucky idiots that
populate the microcosm of Ritchie’s terrific first film, though their
names are different. And again, Ritchie structures his film Pulp
Fiction-style, with a handful of very complicated storylines that at
first seem scarcely related, but gradually become more clearly connected
and neatly entwined as the movie progresses. There’s really nothing
new here, but on the other hand, if you’re going to keep regurgitating
the same film over and over again, you could do heaps worse. Because
when it comes to convoluted, comedic crime capers that are
fabulous to look at to boot, Ritchie’s really the only worthy
successor to Mr.-Dropped-off-the-Face-of-Hollywood Quentin Tarantino. So
is Snatch original? No. But it is undeniably well-done.
The cast is fantastic (even Brad Pitt, taking a small role as the
fast-talking, hilariously incomprehensible Irish Gypsy, is completely
believable), and the dialogue – snappy and crackling with wit – is
almost too gloriously good to be true. While Snatch doesn’t
have the element of pleasant surprise that Lock,Stock... had going
for it – we already know who Ritchie is, and what he’s capable of
creating – it still makes for a heck of a fun couple of hours spent in
front of the TV screen. —reviewed by Y. Sun
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