In a story which is all-too-familiar to cinephiles young film maker stuns everyone with his fresh looking debut only to deliver disappointment once his talents are adopted by big mainstream studios. British director Guy Ritchie impressed many with his crime comedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, thus setting the high expectations which were hard to meet. This happened with his 2000 crime comedy Snatch.
The plot begins in Antwerp where American criminal Franky “Four Fingers” (played by Benicio del Toro) robs local jewellers and later goes to London with 84 carat diamond that is the most valuable part of the loot. Organisation that ordered the heist sends their representative Abraham “Cousin Avi” Denovitz (played by Dennis Farina) to London to make sure Franky keeps diamond in his hands. There is a good reason for that, because Franky is a compulsive gambler, which gives various figures of London underworld plenty of opportunity to rob him. One of those characters that is particularly vicious is “Brick Top” Pulford (played by Alan Ford). Two young boxing promoters Turkish (played by Jason Statham) and Tommy (played by Stephen Graham) have been ordered by Brick Top to fix a match. Their boxer is, however, accidentally incapacitated by Mickey O’Neil (played by Brad Pitt), Irish Traveller bare knuckle boxer, so they try to talk Mickey to replace him and throw the match. Their efforts will lead to all kind of complications, plenty of violence and large bodycount.
Whether you would like Snatch or not will in many ways depend on whether you liked Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells. Guy Ritchie again uses his style of direction based on MTV videos and employs large number of young and talented British actors. But, there is something very different about this film, and it is presence of big Hollywood stars like Benicio del Toro, Dennis Farina and Brad Pitt. Ritchie was apparently so impressed with opportunity to direct such big names that he neglected what was crucial for these kinds of films – proper characters and strong plot. What audience sees is overcomplicated story with many one-dimensional and forgettable characters which could be at best described as uninspired copy of Ritchie’s previous film. What used to look refreshing is now predictable, quality of humour has descreased and Ritchie tries to compensate it with large amounts of over-the-top violence. Snatch had decent box office results, mostly on the account of Pitt’s star power, but the critics weren’t that enthusiastic. In 2017 a sequel came in form of short-lived US television series.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
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