Absolutely brilliant

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2001)

Comparing Guy Ritchie to Quentin Tarantino may have its perks, but I'd prefer not to. The only similarity between them is that they depict the lives and times of low-life criminals in a humorous way, and that they both have a real skill in writing plots with many twists and turns. However alike their writing is, there is nothing similar in their directing. While Tarantino is sometimes painfully slow and contemplative, Ritchie is fast, violent, witty and music video influenced. And there's a time for both. But for sheer fun I'd go with Ritchie.
"Lock, Stock..." is insane. At some points, the story is almost believable but don't hang on to that - it quickly becomes a twisted, weird, fast-moving and funny, FUNNY mess of a plot where the casual and unintentional interactions between the different gangs and individuals almost become hard to follow. There are some scenes that alone make this movie worth watching - the sequence when the cannabis-harvesting loons shoot at the gangsters trapped in the steel cage with a soft air gun, or when the OD-chick suddenly comes alive with the machine gun. Hilarious, stupid, insane and fast-paced. Humor or the best kind. The cast couldn't be better, even Sting is pretty good the few moments he appears. But Vinnie Jones really tops it - not so much for is acting skills, but more for his character. Brutal and by far the smartest of the lot, he drags his little son around the messes that he makes, careful not to let the boy hear any profanity.
A great film, and one that I certainly will watch again and again.