Snatch captures the mood of Tarantino s work but avoids the slickness of dialogue, the polished brattiness of the American s self-conscious patter. In this film, Ritchie allows the camera itself to do all the truly cool stuff. The voices deliberately roughened, broken, sometimes completely indecipherable stammer and stagger and lurch their way between threat and crisis. It is the camerawork in this film, however, that is granted the smartest trickery, gets the best laughs, and the cleverest lines. This pace, and this directorial flair for story telling, character and style are the film s greatest assets.
Snatch is a film to be ridden for the sheer joy of the ride.
In a break from its ancestors, the emphasis is not on its cleverness, although the film does indeed possess such qualities. Ritchie for the most part avoids the sort of smart-arsery that steps beyond the screen to give you a nudge and a wink and poke in the ribs. It would be easy to dismiss Snatch as unoriginal, even pedestrian in its execution. Contemporary independent cinema, and productions coming out of England in particular, has proven adept at these sleek crime thrillers, filled with double, even triple crosses, outbursts of angry violence and pounding getaways. But I think it s important to consider the ways in which this film both conforms to and rejoices in its narrative, its characters, its energy and humour before it is bound and restrained by its adherence to a popular genre.