Snatch. Cerdos y diamantes

I was never really too keen on "Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels". All my friends constantly quoted it, raved and ranted, and then when "Snatch" came out, everyone made an even bigger deal of that. I watched Lock Stock, and though I did like it, it didn't really tickle my fancy. But Snatch, that's a completely different story all together.

When I saw Snatch at the cinemas, I was shocked to see a couple leave only fifteen minutes into the film. As they left, you could hear their intellectually deficient comments; "this movie is so boring". I couldn't believe it! I'd recommend this movie to ANYONE, The Pope even!

There are hundreds of thousands of reasons for anyone to see this movie; each word of the script being a reason.

Snatch is possibly one of THE best written movies I've seen. It's smart, witty, funny and has just the right touches of dark humour. With characters like Turkish, Mickey, Tommy, Brick Top, Bullet Tooth Tony and Cousin Avi; their witty repartee will have your personal quotes list full for months after watching it. The camera work and editing complement each other to keep the film's pace on its toes, much like the boxers at the center of the character's stories.

Jason Statham has some of THE best lines in the movie, constantly slamming anything even slightly intelligent his partner Tommy has to say. Brad Pitt turns out an excellent performance as the Irish-Gypsy-Pykie Mickey; his accent is hilarious.

Even though the story line is only a simple one (following a massive Diamond through England's criminal underworld), it is the connections each character has to the diamond and each other that really makes this film stand out from all the usual jewel-heist films.

Another 10 / 10 from me on this one, it's just a pity the follow up to Snatch was a "collaborative effort" from Mr. Richie and his um.......wife.

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.

Guy Richie's follow up to Lock Stock and Two Smoking barrels is every bit as astonishing as its predecessor. The humour is better and I have never seen people in a cinema laugh as loud and as frequently as they did here. Vinnie Jones plays a similar role as Big Chris, here as Bullet Tooth Tony. His appearance is limited but boy does he make an impact. Even when he is not on screen there is much to savour from Dennis Farina as Avi and a trio of pawnbrokers who are sent to rob a bookies. Brad Pitt sheds his movie start personna and preforms impressively as an Irish gypsie. Unlike Lock Stock.. the humour will appeal to all nationalities. However they mind some slang expressions such as Pikey and blag hard to understand. Good preformances, fantastic characters, razor sharp diologue, expert direction and camera work and brilliant humour, Snatch will make you laugh more than any other movie this year. See it now.

Imagine what would happen if you took 8 or 10 criminals of various professions, threw them into a maze, gave one of the criminals a diamond the size of a fist, and yelled out load, "SOMEONE IN THIS MAZE HAS A HUGE DIAMOND! WHOEVER FINDS IT AND IS THE LAST MAN STANDING, WINS!" What do you think would happen? Snatch is what happens.

Snatch is a confusing, twisting, crazy movie. Let me repeat that. This movie is crazy! Imagine the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disney Word on acid, and this is what you get my friend. Believe it or not, this mass confusion and complete insanity is very, very entertaining.

The movie has it's problems. First off, for those of you who have seen Snatch's predecessor, (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), you know that Guy Richie (the writer and director of both films) has a very music-video style as far as the camera angles, movements, and cinematography goes. The strange camera techniques get so mad with lunacy that I noticed people walking out of the theater. I was also turned off by this madness. However, most of this insane crap gets over within the first hour, so it doesn't last.

If any of you people out there loved Lock Stock as much as I did, do yourself a favor and see this movie as fast as you can. Snatch is a bit more serious than Lock Stock, but when it's funny, you'll laugh till your lungs burst. It was nice to see Vinnie Jones, who was Big Chris in the last movie, return as the same basic character (only now named Bullet Tooth Tony) and doing the same "slamming victim's head in a car door" act again. The performances were just as great as Lock Stock, with Jason Statham and Pitt leading the pack. I was disappointed to see that Bendicio Del Toro didn't have a bigger role. I was expecting him to be a lead character, but he's not.

So, in conclusion, if you have never seen Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, I would see that first before seeing Snatch so you can get adjusted to Guy Richie's style. I still think that it is stupid to compare either two movies to Pulp Fiction (unlike most people), but it is in the same ballpark as Pulp. That means if you liked Pulp, you will most likely like Snatch and Lock, Stock. If you have never seen Pulp or Lock Stock, you have deprived your life of culture.

9/10

"Snatch" is fantastic; and not least because it demonstrates emphatically that the British movie industry is capable of rivaling even the best of what Hollywood can offer.

"Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" was one of the funniest movies released in recent years, and "Snatch" takes everything that "Lock, Stock..." did so well and does it even better.

Back are the cleverly intertwined plotlines, the hilarious one-liners, and the simultaneously intimidating and comedic London villains. So is the skillful editing, and often original cinematographic style. This time however, it all looks somewhat slicker and better funded, and alongside the British regulars are the odd American celebrity (Brad Pitt, Benicio Del Toro).

Everyone in the film puts in an excellent performance, but Pitt stands out as a charismatic and near-incomprehensible Gypsy boxer.

Like Ritchie's earlier film, this one takes a little while to find its feet, but once it does the pace doesn't slacken until the finale. One scene featuring three guys and a squeaking dog in a stolen car stands out particularly, and left the audience at my local cinema almost weeping as punchline after punchline was uttered.

When it comes to comedies, I cannot recommend this one highly enough. If you're after a good laugh, you won't find much to better "Snatch".