Brad Pitt as a Pikey boxer. Dennis Farina as a New York mobster. Benicio Del Toro as
a Russian thief. And more British names in more roles than I can count. Toss in a
dog that will eat anything and an 84 karot diamond the size of your fist, and what do
you have?
One hell of a good movie, that's what.
Snatch is the latest from Brit director Guy Ritchie, who had directed the critic fav
Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels. This was a hit (though, as of the date of this
review--Jan 24, 2001--I have yet to see his first film), and as is commonly expected
people were expecting a lot from his follow-up.
Let me say that this movie was fabulous. It was warped, a bit gritty, and violent
(though outside of the boxing matches most of the violence is off-screen). It was
also hilariously funny.
First you have Turkish (who narrates the movie) and Tommy. Turkish is named after
an airline flight, whilst Tommy entertains the idea that he was named after the gun
(y'know... those tommy-guns, the old machine-guns in the old gangster movies based
during the 1950s and 1960s). Truth is that Tommy was named after a Biblical character.
The two of them run an illegal boxing ring. Turkish is smart and business saavy,
while Tommy is a bit of an idiot.
Then there's Bricktop. He's a bookie who is quite vengeful (quoth Turkish: "You
don't want to be in his debt, cause that means you're in his pocket, and from there
it's only a matter of time..."). His preferred way of disposing of a body? Simple:
feed it to a bunch of starved pigs.
Bring into this Benicio Del Toro as Frankie Four Fingers, a Russian thief who loves
gambling. Then there's Cousin Avi (Dennis Farina) who wants to buy the diamond that
Jimmy stole. Bring into this The Russian (aka: The Bullet Dodger), who also wants
the diamond, and hires some small-time crooks (a trio of black jewellers) to steal
the jewel from Jimmy to give to The Russian. And then there's Brad Pitt as the Pikey
boxer, who has an accent so horrendous that no one in the entire movie can understand
a word he's saying (again, to quote Turkish: "It's not quite Irish, and it's not quite
British, either."). Lastly we have the hitman Bullet-Tooth, who took six shots at
close range in succession and still survived.
Believe it or not, every single storyline here ends up overlapping in one way or
another. It's amazing how Ritchie weaves the plots. His visual style is great, too,
making a hectic, zoom-zoom, cut-and-run feel to the movie that works perfectly.
(in case you're wondering: the advertisements on TV match the movie's style perfectly)
The humour is warped, too. The scene where Bricktop explains his methods of disposing
of bodies is particularly hilarious (he goes into a bit of gruesome detail). Pitt is
hilarious as the Pikey boxer (and he proves that he CAN hold an accent, something
that was in some dispute after his disappointing turn in The Devil's Own... he couldn't
hold that Irish accent to save his life). The dog, never really given a name, is
positively scene-stealing as it squeaks whenever it moves (it swallowed a chew-toy
in one of the early scenes). Each character is eccentric, and each one is funny in
their own way. It's impossible to explain any of their personalities, but they're
all fabulous characters.
Apart from the obvious aversion to violence, this movie may end up putting people off
for two reasons: The visual style is not everyone's cup of tea (most young'uns like
meself won't mind it, though), and the accents may be hard for a lot of people to
understand (though if you're a big fan of Brit-coms, then you're in the clear).
End result? It's a fun, wicked, hilarious comedy-caper. Go see it, it's well
worth your time.