Just three years ago, when I reviewed 'LS&TSB', I was brave enough to rekindle the story line to the best of my ability (which I remember taking far more time that I'd have cared to spend in the first place). Backing down in the "brave" category this time around the maypole, you're going to have to piece a synopsis together yourselves. The characters include jewel thieves, two-bit hoodlums, boxing promoters, big bad British bad guys with big bad British teeth, hit men with creative names, Orthodox Jews, jewel thieves dressed as Orthodox Jews, Irish travellers, crazy Russian hit men - - - the list could pretty much go on and on. (Lest I forget the dog, a pivotal role in a film with this many characters - go figure).

    What I like about Ritchie's films is that he separates himself from from his colleagues in the crime drama genre by creating a light, almost fluffy comic delight inside his over plotted, over directed, way over shot free-for-alls. Both 'Snatch' and 'LS&2SB' have at least this in common - and much more (the style and story are similar, the structure is almost identical - - - even the characters seem to be the same, but with different names). Still, its nice to see neo-noir in an otherwise dry season made with a willingness to be coy, to be farcical, to be happy-go-lucky, to be wisecracking: to be all the things that hard edged films designed of violence and foul language (of which 'Snatch' has in spades, more of it mean spirited than in 'LS&2SB') never manage to muster. And I doubt from these two cinematic efforts that Ritchie's out to make anything of true and concrete value to the intellectual film going crowd. He's clearly emulating the films of the seventies and, (separate thought), marketing them to people who like to forget themselves briefly and not remember what they were doing when they were in the shutdown mode.

    Some nice performances in the mix. Brad Pitt, as usual, is especially good at tapping a wacked-out side of himself to bring in a bare knuckle boxer who just can't seem to go down in the fourth round. Vinnie Jones, pretty much all but reprising his former role in 'LS&2SB', just continues to interest me in athletes-turned-actors. All that charisma. That brute strength. That self-confident wit. Are there any American athletes who turned to the screen that project likability even a wee bit? Top of my head can't find a name.

    Another pitfall in fusing the same overall sequence of events with the same down-and-out hoods becomes a competition scrap: 'Snatch's head boss (Alan Ford, who grinds his victims up and feeds them to pigs) isn't quite as menacing as Hatchet Harry in 'LS&2SB'; the leads in 'Snatch'  aren't nearly as interesting as the four blokes who carry 'LS&2SB'; and the race-against-the-clock method met with a violent car accident that just turns out to be a coincidental blessing in disguise (I swear this exact structure appears in both films) is more elaborately staged and gory in 'Snatch' - - - but not half as much fun as in 'LS&2SB'.

    But enough comparison. For all the ridicule I impart on Ritchie (the most should be for how loud he turns up Madonna's "Lucky Star" in a key scene), his film is at least entertaining. Following a fruitless year full of mostly sub par hack jobs, the bright light is still enough to draw my eyes near to its projection - - - even if it is only an amusing sub par hack job.