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Snatch. (2000) More at IMDbPro »

"Snatch" will grab., 6 September 2006

Author: dunmore_ego from Los Angeles, California

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Released on the heels of his stylishly dangerous "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," "Snatch" simultaneously solidified the grit-edged, flamethrower directorial style of Guy Ritchie, even as it launched Jason Statham into his "Transporter" leading man roles; heralded an altogether explosive performance from Alan Ford as Brick Top; proved yet again the go-to value of Rade Sherbedgia as generic Slovakian Hard Guy (even though no two publications can agree on the spelling of his name); saw Dennis Farina reprising his smarm-jockey from "Get Shorty"; was a hilarious continuation of Vinnie Jones' unbalanced contract killer from "Lock, Stock," and marked Bradley Pitt's first foray into incoherent mumbling whilst covered in tattoos and poo.

With a soundtrack as impertinent as its plot and as foreboding as the felons who populate it, edited with a verve which could snap your cervical vertebrae and shot with a style that will make your eyebrows bleed, "Snatch" is a Molotov cocktail of a movie; a careening, chain-wielding maniac of a film.

It's about incompetent thugs and incomprehensible gypsies. It's about Desert Eagle point five-oh's and fist-sized, dog-swallowed diamonds. It's about bare-knuckle street fighting, for gangsters who breed people-eating pigs. No good guys and no bad guys - only bad guys and badder guys.

Indescribable at best, inexplicable at worst, who knows exactly what is going on in "Snatch," except maybe Guy Ritchie - and only when he's drunk.

Compulsive gambler, Frankie Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) must deliver from London to New York an 86-carat diamond to Cousin Avi (Farina), but Boris the Blade (Sherbedgia) gets in the way, via his small-time help, Vincent and Sol, simultaneously igniting the wrath of sadistic underworld kingpin, Brick Top (who would just as readily suffocate you with a plastic bag or feed you to a pig as deign to scathe your manhood with his cockney insults). So Cousin Avi must jump-cut travel to England and employ Bullet Tooth Tony (Jones) to retrieve the gem.

Disparate plots and subplots intertwine like choker vines - with dialog so lushly British you could smell the fish 'n' chips and comedy so sharp you could paper-cut your tongue on it.

In a seemingly removed throughline, Turkish (Statham) and his marginally-tolerated sidekick, Tommy (Stephen Graham) get themselves deep into devil dealings over bare-knuckle boxing matches with Brick Top and must tactfully employ the very fighter who put their star fighter out of commission - the "harder than a coffin nail" gypsy, Mickey (Pitt). Refusing to play the game of taking dives, Mickey gets Turkish and Tommy into even deeper devilry when his freight-train right hook fells Brick Top's bet-winning boxer.

Freeze frames, crash-cuts, slomo, chronological reversal, whip zooms, contrast-treated frames, follow-frames, Batman angles - Ritchie relishes throwing the baby and the bathwater at the viewer, garnering his fair share of stylistic detractors. Ultimately, "Snatch" is not designed for "The Wedding Planner" set.

In the final few minutes, the disparate threads coalesce and the diamonds and dogs and boxers and blaggings all somehow crazily make sense.

But only when you're drunk.

(Movie Maniacs, visit: poffysmoviemania.com)

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