ONe of the great films of the year..

Rating: 9/10 (2 September 1999)

I rented Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels the day it arrived. Having been a small release, I hadn't gotten to a theater to check it out. I did rent it with a little bit of reluctance, having rented the hideously overrated Go the evening before. Go was considered to be the greatest of the Tarantino knock offs. However, after watching the film, my reluctance had no place because this is not a Tarantino knock off. Ritchie himself said he has never seen Tarantino's brillant Reservoir Dogs. That's not the purpose here, though. The purpose here is to tell how well crafted this film is. To give you an idea, I have never seen a film that had such a clear sense of style and storytelling. Ritchie has defined his sort of hyperkinetic flashy style, and gives us more of a shot with his control of the camera{which is more like a seasoned pro then a beginner, but Ritchie has worked in commercials} then Tarantino has done in all of his films{Don't get me long, I worship Tarantino}. That being said, just because it has this flashy fast paced way about it does not make it hard to understand. Yes, there are over 22 important character in this film, but I hadn't for a second got any of them confused. I know who belonged where, and what there purpose was. Plus, all the performances were excellent. Not many directors can tell story with as much style and as coherently as this. Ritchie pulls it off to near perfection. He is a brillant director.