A great caper without a lead

Rating: Null/10 (20 January 2001)

I enjoyed the first hour or so of "Snatch", Guy Ritchie's new gangster caper, especially any moment with Frankie Four Fingers (Benicio), the unstopabble Boris the Blade (Rade), or the inept trio of robbers with Tyrone, possibly THE worst getaway driver ever. It was around the point that Brick Top (an incredibly vicious performance) began explaining just how pigs devour human flesh that I found the film a little too vicious, a feeling enhanced by my mother's revulsion in her seat. Then came Bullet-Tooth Tony bringing just a touch too much carnage, though his repeated and failed attempts to kill Boris are hilarious. (Somebody give Rade Sherbedgia a film worth his sense of comic timing!) The biggest problem with "Snatch" is that it lacks a strong lead. Pulp Fiction got away with it, because you're ultimately redeemed by Samuel L. Jackson's transformation. The similar "Get Shorty" had John Travolta's cool cat Chili Palmer. Here, Turkish (Jason Statham) has got just the right tone for narration, but his character is not at all interesting. I would have much preferred transferring the story over to Sol, Vinny, and Tyrone and their attempts to get out of the mess with Brick Top and Bullet Tooth and dispose of their increasing number of bodies.
Brad Pitt plays his minor role effectively, obviously having a devilishly good time with his accent. Benicio del Toro was likewise enjoying himself- "Chai'm not in Rrrome. Chai'm in a rrrush." It got to be a little too feverish for a story where eventually you didn't like the supposed "main" characters. The video effects and cinematography were brilliant though- I especially liked the Tarantinoesque re-arrangement of the car crashes and Tony's speech to the robbers. See it with a bunch of friends, but realize it's not for the squeamish- it's a type of bloody fun we haven't seen in a few years. **.5