Strange poetry

Rating: Null/10 (16 July 2001)

A lot of people are going to like this film for a lot of different and overlapping reasons, which is a dandy recommendation for any film. Then again, a lot of people are going to pass on it because it seems to deviate from storytelling, which it does. This is entertainment, like at a carnival; every corner you turn is something different but when you get ready to leave you look back and see it was all one thing. Dark comedy, tragedy, people you don't necessarily care about but become seriously curious about. The poetry is in the way the story is told; it plays with time but it plays with time in an ironic and thematic way. The poetry is in the story, poetry as old as storytelling because in a nutshell it is about a really bad deed getting what it deserves, the tale just veers and twists and dances on the way to justice. The poetry is in the visuals, in scenes that follow the plot and in scenes that own themselves, like out takes. I'm not a huge fan of Brad Pitt's though I think he's navigating that line between good and great, but in this film he gathered me up and made me his buddy. I just sat down with him in this and liked his character the way I like an outcast cousin. Guy Ritchie did good. I've heard it said that if a film has three really good scenes, then it was a success. This film has three great scenes of irony, three great scenes of melodrama, three great scenes of humor, three great visual scenes ... don't watch this film with expectations. Just put on your seatbelt, settle back and enjoy a near miss with greatness.