Don't believe the hype

Rating: 3/10 (22 November 2000)

After watching "Lock Stock" my first reaction was, mmmmm, not bad. The more I thought about it however, the more I realised that it really IS bad. It tried to be so many things at once - violent, funny, ultra-cool, unpredictable, cutting edge, etc. In my opinion, it generally missed the target.
Yes, it did have moments of humour, but these were generally when glorifying violence, or through characters acting "hard". It was certainly violent in places, had a few neat twists towards the end, but ultimately left you thinking that the director Guy Ritchie was just trying to be Britain's answer to Quentin Tarantino - well sorry Guy, you lack the characterisation and humour. Remember Pulp Fiction? We all laughed when John Travolta shot that guy in the face - to laugh in the face of shocking violence takes the work of a genius - Guy Ritchie has two goons being shot by an unseen airgun marksmen with the ultra-violent "boss" shouting "will everyone stop getting shot". Yeah, hilarious.
The acting was TERRIBLE. Everyone sounded retarded - I've been to London, nobody speaks like that! And that amber hue to the picture just did my head in. 3/10