An entertaining, amusing and forgettable film

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2001)

An enjoyable, entertaining and highly stylised romp through London gang violence by Guy Ritchie. The film is brilliantly edited, however the use of third person narration and sequential edits is derivative of 'Trainspotting' (which is a much better film). The lighting is effectively sparse and effectively conveys the drabness and tawdriness of the characters and subject matter.
After watching this film I do not feel particularly bothered about ever seeing it again. It is certainly an overrated film and comes nowhere near classic British crime films like 'Get Carter' and 'The Long Good Friday'. The high ratings given to this film is because of it's current trendiness rather than it's overall cinematic quality. In Britain, the TV spin-off, not directed by Ritchie, 'Lock Stock..' was absolutely atrocious and was quite rightly panned by critics. Some of the other user comments saying that this film is better than American crime movies is palpable rubbish, this cannot compete with 'Goodfellas', 'The Godfather', 'The Sopranos', 'Reservoir Dogs' etc.
In conclusion, this is a good little film but not a great one and time will be the judge of that.