An Unflinching Barrel of Laughs!

Rating: 10/10 (20 March 2015)

In their attempts to get out of a jam, the four East End lads seem to be digging themselves deeper into a hole. They decide to pony up a wad of cash and send in their best card player, to a high stakes game in order to bring home some gold. However, their host Hatchet Harry has rigged the game to rook the lads for all they're worth and by the end of the evening, they're half a million in debt. In order to repay Harry, the four hatch a new plan to intercept a shipment of drugs. What follows next is a hilarious series of accidental double- crosses, botched heists and other bungled crimes. And the violence, while always nerve-wracking, is more implied than graphically depicted. Part of the fun of the film is trying to figure out who, if anyone, will be left standing.
The plot is very clever and has a delirious pace that threatens to draw you from your seat at every turn as the fortunes of the protagonists change in flashes, from sky-high to rock bottom. Thus begins a violent, dangerous and funny ride to the unexpected conclusion of the film. Ritchie's camera work is sprightly, and he has a definite rhythm for slang and profanity in his dialogue. His artistic use of freeze- frames, slow motion and other camera trickery proves he is a precocious talent to be reckoned with. He orchestrates the plots and anti-plots with the delight of a sadistic child. Even when the accents are as indecipherable as the plot, Ritchie keeps the action percolating and the humor on high.
This movie is loaded with a troupe of unforgettable larrikins, played with boisterous enthusiasm by a solid, ensemble cast particularly the four who make up the lead quartet of Moran, Flemyng, Fletcher and Statham - they are hilariously dazzling, playing complete screw-ups with believable camaraderie and a kind of goofy charm. They're losers sure, but you will find yourselves rooting for them through every twist and turn.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels works beautifully as an exercise in joyful anarchy, an unsentimental roller-coaster ride that is both violent and funny. It has a certain exuberance about it, and in a time when movies follow formulas like zombies, it's alive!