the heist of a flawless , 84 carat diamond , fixed bare knuckle fights , irish gypsies and a dog are just some of the goings on in director guy ritchies 's sophomore feature , " snatch . "
" lock , stock and two smoking barrels " intro'd helmer / scripter ritchie with a hyper - kinetic , in your face underworld comedy that grabbed the viewer 's attention from beginning to end .
his protagonists were innocents set adrift in a see of sharks to swim or be eaten alive .
with " snatch , " the director does n't remake his first work , but he does delve more deeply into the criminal underbelly of london , mining a rich collection of characters in the process .
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from the very beginning , " snatch " tosses you into the action with the theft of the fabulous diamond , the desire of new york gangster avi ( dennis farina ) .
en route from antwerp ,
diamond thief and courier frankie four fingers ( benicio del toro ) stops in london to make a separate deal with avi 's partner and cousin , doug " the head " ( mike reid ) .
frankie 's addiction to gambling tempts him into making a bet on an illegal boxing match for boris " the blade " ( rade sherbedgia ) , a ruthless russian mobster .
the bet turns out to be a setup for a robbery by a trio of bumbling incompetents - vinnie ( robbie gee ) , sol ( lennie james ) and portly tyrone ( ade ) - that goes miserably awry .
meanwhile , a couple of young toughs , turkish ( jason stratham ) and tommy ( stephen graham ) , are trying to break in to the boxing game with the help of local villain brick top ( alan ford ) , who also owns a pig farm .
when their first fighter is put out of action , with one punch , by a wild irish gypsy named mickey o'neil , they figure to put the loose canon in as the contender in a fixed fight .
mickey proves less than reliable and goes against turkish and tommy 's deal .
brick top , impressed by mickey 's performance , decides to gives them another chance - after calmly explaining that it takes 16 pigs about eight minutes to completely devour a corpse .
when avi does n't get his precious rock , he jumps on a plane for london and hires a local legend , " bullet tooth " tony ( vinnie jones ) , to find frankie and the diamond .
things spiral out of control as all these forces head on a collision course of double - cross and double - deals - and a dog that ate a squeaky toy .
guy ritchie ( mr .
madonna to some ) is an extraordinarily talented auteur who has a wonderful knack for pulling together his unique collection of cast and crew and feeding them funny and gritty dialog
that spews out of the characters ' mouths like machine gun fire .
the helmer marshals his large ensemble actors in a frantically paced caper comedy that makes you laugh and feel queasy at the same time , the above description by brick top being just one example .
the assemblage of actors and non - actors in rough - and - tumble settings gives " snatch " an earthy feel in its depiction of london 's criminal underworld .
the cast of characters is too large to credit here , but two of the performances - first among equals , you might say - are worth noting .
alan ford is brilliant
as the ruthless , evil brick top .
when he refuses sugar in his tea because " i 'm sweet enough , " it makes you shiver , even as you laugh .
his is one of the best gangster characters i 've seen in years .
the other outstanding perf is given by none other than brad pitt , the name actor the movie 's popularity may hang upon , at least initially .
pitt , as mickey o'neil , is hard drinking , hard fighting , highly unreliable and nearly incomprehensible with a unique irish brogue and dialect of the pikers , the irish travelers of europe .
this gypsy brigand would steal the fillings from your teeth , especially if it would benefit his beloved mum ( sorcha cusack ) .
when brick top threaten the safety of mickey 's family , he makes an enemy that can not be stopped .
pitt puts a credible spin on his character and does some incredible physical stuff , too , as a bare - knuckle boxer .
the production team behind the camera includes ritchie alumni , producer matthew vaughn and lenser tim maurice - jones , and other talented technical artist that bring the hyperactive imagination of the author to visual life .
there is a patent feel to the look of " snatch " and " lock , stock and two smoking barrels " that reeks of " signature " for ritchie , but i 'm not sure how this will translate in his future works .
there is so much talent in the filmmaker that i would like to see him branch out in other directions .
nonetheless , " snatch " is terrific sophomore effort , a darn good action comedy and a hoot to boot .
i give it a b+ .
Output: P