Don't Snatch!

Rating: 8/10 (19 May 2010)

After the success of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Guy Ritchie quickly became hot property and a follow up film was expected. Ritchie decided on bringing the audience another comedy-gangster caper and he had the added clout of attaching big name stars like Brad Pitt and Benicio del Toro.
Snatch tells multiple but interlinking stories set in the London underworld. A 87 carat diamond had been stolen by Frankie "Four-Fingers" (del Toro) in Antwerp, Belgium. He is sent to London to have it evaluated by the diamond dealer Doug "The Head" Denovitz (Mike Reid), for an American gangster Avi (Dennis Farina). Frankie is a meant to stay low but his gambling habits play havoc on that idea. Turkish (Jason Statham) and Tommy (Stephen Graham) are organisers and promoters for underground boxing fights A ruthless gangster Brick Top (Alan Ford) recruits them and demands that their fighter throws the fight so he could make a killing for his gambling empire. When Turkish's fighter is unable to fight he is forced to recruit an Irish traveller Mickey (Pitt) to be his boxer: but Mickey does not play ball. Boris "The Blade" (Rade erbedija) also wants the diamond and he hires two hapless criminals, Sol (Lennie James) and Vinnie (Robbie Gee) to steal it from Frankie. But to do this they end up stepping on Brick Top's turf, who quickly becomes involve in the fight for the diamond.
Ritchie as a writer has a limited range as a writer, he often does these mockney gangsters with interlinking story lines, macguffins and over-the-top characters. He is often a man who thinks he is smarter then really is. But even with this formula Ritchie does make a fun film with a lot of comedy and the story elements fit well together. It shows a number of story lines can work if the writing is good. This is of course not a serious take on London gangsters which is a shame really because British filmmaker have made some real classics like Get Carter and The Long Good Friday. But as a comedy take it is still pretty good and there is plenty of action throughout. But there were some really silly things throughout like the names of some of the characters, the use of mockney English because no one speaks like that and the way some characters act throughout the film. Ritchie is stylist in his direction with some brilliant shots throughout and there is a visual kinetic style. The film is fast paced and Ritchie knows how to deliver a action, with the boxing fights and the gun fights. There are some moments of real flair like in the beginning when it uses CCTV screens to follow a group of robbers.
There is a excellent cast in this film. Of course the Hollywood A-Listers are good in Snatch, del Toro effectively playing a European gangster and it had to take an American actor to give an over-the-top Irish accent with the ultimate amount of slang. The Stath shows that from his origins as a model and a driver that he can be good actor and shows that he has some real comic energy in Snatch. Ford was very effective as the top gangster of London with a remorseless nature and James and Gee were decent comic folly.
A good film, but Lock, Stock is Ritchie's best.