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Review by Susan Granger
1½ stars out of 4
British writer/director Guy Ritchie repeats the hip "Lock,
Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" formula with this new, ultra-violent
crime caper - and it's less effective the second time 'round. This is
all about a diamond heist gone sour, bare knuckle boxing and a dog who
swallows a squeak toy. Benicio Del Toro ("Traffic") is Franky Four
Fingers, a diamond thief and gambler, who is passing through London en
route to New York to deliver a glittering 86-carat gem that he stole
in Antwerp to his Anglophobe boss, Dennis Farina. While distributing
some smaller sparklers to his boss's mobster cousin and other Hatton
Garden jewelers, he places a bet on an illegal boxing match. What he
doesn't know is that he's been set up for robbery - and worse. So much
for the gruesome, convoluted plot. The gritty, working-class
characters are sadistic gangster caricatures and not at all likable,
in contrast to the four lads in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels."
Brad Pitt is almost unintelligible as One Punch Mickey, an Irish gypsy
boxer; he's brawny and buff but he seems to be babbling
incoherently. As for Guy Ritchie's Tarantino-like craftsmanship in
directing, it's simply "been there, done that" as the colorful, if
over-aggressive, bumblers energetically bungle their way from mishap
to mayhem. And what's with the supposedly symbolic scenes of cruelty
to animals? Surely Ritchie's torrid courtship of Madonna and Child
cannot have robbed him of all originality. However, one must credit
him for a disgustingly unique explanation of the phrase, "as greedy as
a pig." On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Snatch" is a
confusing, shamelessly repetitive 4. Its continuous action and
frenetic pace don't make it either fresh or funny. I'm curious to see
what genre Ritchie tackles next.
Copyright © 2001 Susan Granger
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out of 4
