Guy Ritchie
The Snatch

Guy Ritchie's film career is quite inconsistent. It all starts, after a lot of experience, with a little gem like "Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels" (1998) which few people consider outside of England. The same formula applies to "Snatch" (2000), which becomes an overwhelming success with more than 100 million pounds in earnings for a film that costs 1.5 million. From being a total unknown, Mr. Guy Ritchie becomes, not just famous, but very famous after meeting Madonna, whom he marries. Hollywood, money in abundance, a downhill life! A frantic descent with the incredible flop of the hideous remake "Swept Away" (2002), starring Mrs. Ritchie and Adriano Giannini. Good Guy tries to dive back into action movies with Revolver (2005), but the past glories are far away. We will see if he will be able to recover. I suggest a nice divorce!

Now let's move on to "Snatch".

Truthfully, this film, which to me is a true cult movie of the early millennium, is nothing more than a beautiful copy of the previous "Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels". The work's framework is compelling and follows the scheme of the best Tarantino (Pulp Fiction) by intersecting stories that would seemingly appear disconnected from each other, but with the passing of minutes, they intertwine. It’s a particularly overused scheme now, but it's extremely easy to get lost in a script that's too verbose, boring, and not appealing to audiences. Finding the right timing while keeping the audience's attention high is no small feat when you have so many stories (and characters) to tell and develop in just under 2 hours.

Describing the film's plot would be a crime. Let's just say that a heist and a diamond trigger the unwanted meeting between a boss, small and unlucky criminals, and gypsies in the backdrop of a frantic London that's crazy about betting: specifically for illegal boxing. Guy Ritchie offers his best in the dialogues that, apart from being absolutely hilarious, give the characters credibility.
The film cost one and a half million pounds (as I mentioned in the introductory note), or "sterling," if you want to get into the language of the movie. A question you might ask me is: how the heck is that possible if there are Del Toro and Brad Pitt in the cast? The first appears for a few minutes, while the handsome (and talented) Brad, after reading the script and the gypsy role Ritchie proposed to him, decided to cut his fee (usually close to 20 million dollars).

Another strong point of the film is the characters created by the director's fertile mind. The protagonists are the "Turk" and "Tommy". Two small fish in the illegal boxing world. The first is bright, alert, and unlucky, the second a human case. Among others stand out the cynical boss and dispenser of pearls of wisdom (before feeding you to the pigs), the elusive and indomitable gypsy in which Pitt offers applause-worthy body and vocal language, and the phlegmatic killer "Tony,” played by a former English footballer (Vinnie Jones). But even the secondary characters are meticulously crafted, like the obese driver Tyronne, the Russian boss "Blade," Benicio Del Toro himself, who plays the role of a robbery accomplice with a gambling addiction, and the omnivorous white dog.

The film flows quickly, with great rhythm, short and dynamic scenes that make it immune or almost immune to the audience's loss of attention. The dubbing is really well done as rendering the London "slang" and the gypsies' speech in Italian is no easy feat. Editing and cinematography are meticulously cared for in a pulp/action/grotesque movie that is extremely entertaining. Quite a few people die, but the audience laughs because the dialogues, characters, and characteristic music (Massive Attack/Noel Gallagher) underscore the tragicomic situation that permeates the entire film.

I must have watched "Snatch" at least 5 times. I believe that if today they aired this and Pulp Fiction on television, I would watch Guy Ritchie's work and in the end go to bed satisfied. This for me means 5 stars.

Memorable quotes (cited from memory):

- Who are you afraid of? The GERMANS???
- Do you like cones?
- Yes London, you know? Fog, crappy food, even worse weather, and Mary fuck you Poppins!
- The fact that your gun says R.E.P.L.I.C.A. and mine says DESERT EAGLE 5.0. should have you and your droopy balls understand that you got the wrong person.
- As Methuselah's wife said after a great shag, can you repeat?
- It's not every day that a virgin woman gets pregnant.
- For me, he can be Mohammed I'll kick your ass Bruce Lee, but he has to go down in the fourth round!