For Every Action, There's A Pikey Reaction!

Rating: 10/10 (14 April 2010)

I saw Sherlock Holmes a couple of months ago and it was very good. I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed that and my friends were raving about Guy Ritchie's style of film-making. So, now I wanted to see Ritchie's previous works & rented out Snatch as it was 135 in the top 250 of IMDb. I have to say I was very impressed. I didn't want to know anything about this film beforehand as it takes away something from the experience and told my friends to shut up about the plot of Snatch. This was Jason Statham's second film, he was not so well known and Brad Pitt was already a superstar. This is one of the best films out there and I totally agree with IMDb users.
So, this is the plot. Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.
Turkish (Jason Statham) and Mickey O'Neil (Brad Pitt) are obviously the first reason anyone would want to watch to the film. I cannot believe how awesome both Statham & Pitt were in this movie. Tommy is like Turkish's brother, they have known each other for a long time. Turkish is a boxing promoter. He entangles himself in Brick Top's hands, who is a bookmaker and Brick Top is a man you wouldn't want to end up owing him. Franky Four Fingers has a large diamond, 86 carats, which he stole and he is in league with cousin Avi. Boris The Blade wants the diamond. Everyone's a gangster or a goon, so this is a film which has nobody but thugs. Doug The Head is a dealer & if anyone knows about the diamond, he is the man. He has two twin daughters working as his assistants in his shop. Anyway, Tommy wants a caravan for himself and Turkish and goes to the pikeys to buy one. But, there he is scammed and Gorgeous George (Turkish's boxer in the unlicensed match in which Brick Top has invested a large amount of money) and Mickey fight it out in a bare knuckle match and Mickey wins, so George is out for a few months. Now, Turkish hires Mickey as the boxer for the match. The deal was that Mickey had to go down in the fourth round, but he wins in one shot, which doesn't go down too well with Brick Top. Sol and his bumbling amateur robbers get involved with the diamond, the damn dog is in all the scenes they are in which is very funny. Bullet Tooth Tony also wants the diamond. You know what? Trying to explain the plot line is ridiculous. All you need to know is, the story is set in London and most of the English spoken is in British accent.
Mickey's mom is burned down along with the caravan by Brick Top because Mickey tried to get a new caravan for his mother from Turkish and had said he wouldn't fight till he got it. That was very touching, the expression on Brad Pitt's face made me so sad for his mother, I felt is anguish & anger. That was a defining moment in the film. Then the big finale match at the end of the film was just awesome. Tommy, Turkish, Mickey's life and the lives of the whole family and friends of Mickey are on the line on this match. Being the bastard Mickey is, he could not possibly go down in the fourth round at least this time, can he? Brad Pitt, Jason Statham & everybody give an engrossing performance. The film is pure brilliancy on the part of Guy Ritchie, the man has style ingrained on his bones, every scene is visually stylistic and the dialogues are superb, the background score is also really catchy. The way he has interwoven the lives of all these characters is brilliant. How else can you empathize with these characters who are all basically villains going against each other? One thing is for sure, you cannot predict one scene in the film, no matter how many movies you have watched. Go snatch a copy of 'Snatch' (I am lame, I know.)
10/10