Chock full o' cliche goodness!

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2001)

For being a post Pulp Fiction, post Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, post Usual Suspects movie, Snatch is terrific (8 out of 10). I wasn't expecting much from this latest entry in the ultra-hip/chaotic sequenced/violent-funny/tangled plot movie, but I was won over in a big way.
I liked all the characters in Snatch, and it didn't matter to me that they were all stereotypical bit players. Even though it had a WWF flavor to it, with the "uber-individual" cast of characters, it was still entertaining. I felt all the actors did a great job in bringing life and a hint of realism to each of their pigeonholed parts. Pitt in particular is terrific as the "Pikey" who is virtually unintelligable throughout.
The movie is stylish, and even though the devices have been used to death in other pictures, I felt Ritchie brought enough freshness to Snatch to make it work. And even though I saw the old "all-points-converge-here" plot developing within the first couple of minutes, it didn't matter much--I was entertained throughout.
Basically, if you've seen a bunch of movies from this Pulp Fiction genre lately, you'd be better off not watching Snatch for a while. It isn't original enough to stand out among the rest, and it will be impossible to give it the objective look it deserves. On the other hand, when viewed on its own, it is quite good, and I think worth a high standing in the cool action flick category.