A classic from Ritchie's golden era

Rating: 10/10 (5 May 2020)

This is Guy Ritchie's first feature-length movie, and it's a nearly flawless one. The premise seems quite simple, but the execution is top notch, and it's all written perfectly.
In the first scenes we meet our protagonists - Bacon, Eddy, Soap and Tom. While they serve as the movie's heroes, there's an abundance of other characters, which are equally important to the story. It's important to pay attention to everything that happens on screen, because it's all connected.
The movie doesn't have an all-star cast, as we may expect, but we see some very familiar names, like Sting or Jason Statham. All characters are created in a great way, with a unique personality, and there are no unimportant ones who bring nothing to the plot.
Another great thing that Ritchie mastered since the very beginning is knowing exactly where to land a joke. This movie is full of dark comedy, with some characters being mainly a comedic relief, but it doesn't lose its soul. The drama is still here, as well as blood and death.
The cherry on top is the ending. The choice to end it in that exact moment was the best that could be made, and the ambiguity is a fitting way for this story to end.
The only thing that bothered me during the first viewing was the brown-yellowish filter applied during almost every scene. Fortunately, I soon got used to it as it's so well done it creates an illusion of it being the natural light. I think the purpose was to highlight the dirty, urban setting and if I'm correct then it does its job really well.