Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Ritchie uses almost every known British character actor/soap star for his gang romp revolving around the simple premise of some guys owing a gang boss a large amount of money. The cast is impressive you gotta admit, of course you gotta be British to probably get the most from it but the collection of oddballs and gangsters are all so well cast and played it just shoves the seedy, gritty, dirty, 'Del boy' London grim in your face perfectly.
There is certainly a Tarantino style going on throughout as the story tends to twist n turn amongst all the dreary looking locations, the whole film seems to have a brownish tint to it, almost an enforced grimy hue to really bring the rough dilapidated streets of London to life. To be honest you don't even need to follow the story you just watch it for the continuous use of cockney slang and hints of vicious violence between various roughians, (a case of less is more with the violence) at the same time all this is accompanied by a glorious soundtrack.
A slick cool visage of thugs and wheeler dealers of varying levels of intelligence all mixed with a dark gallows humour that makes you unsure wether to giggle or shy away. The four main characters are a good balance of your classic 'EastEnders' types with a dollop of 'Only Fools n Horses' comedy on top in a world where the Kray brothers could still be walking the streets and where Vinnie Jones as 'Big Chris' brings another level of atmosphere with his final act.
Bosh! job done Guv'
Snatch
'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 2' could be its real name, Ritchie is back with the second in his British gangster trilogy ('Revolver' being number three) and this time due to the success of his first venture he clearly has more money to play with so he brings in some big name stars.
The film is almost the same kind of thing to 'Lock Stock' being another gritty, dirty, slimy cockney collaboration of tales all revolving around yet more oddball wheeler dealers, thugs and gangsters as they all try to get ahold of money, jewels and each other in (again) a Tarantino type way with more gallows humour.
The cast again is fantastic and includes yet more British actors that were somehow left out of the first film, over Ritchie's films he's used every known British character actor or soap star we have haha The inclusion of some big Hollywood stars actually, for me, brings the film down slightly, they don't seem realistic and can't fit into this exclusively British world thus the film loses its sense of realism, a big Hollywood star doesn't always equal a good direction to go.
To be frank the film does really have a R. Rodriguez feel to it eg. 'Mariachi' was made, it did well so RR remade it bigger and better. 'Snatch' does seem to fall into that catergory to a degree, it does feel almost like a reboot or upgrade of 'Lock Stock' as some of the cast that do show up in both films are playing the same kind of role, mainly Vinnie Jones who can't really play anything else. The film has the exact same grotty feel to it with your typical South/East London looking pubs, alleys and streets, more cockney dialect to confuse any non Londoner, more hints at vicious violence but without actually showing that much, some glorious fights and more swearing than you can possibly imagine haha
The only thing I don't like about the film is all the silly names everyone has, I just get the feeling Ritchie was trying too hard to make it in the same vain as American New York gangsters, your typical hood with his catchy nickname like 'Billy the rat' or 'pool table Pauly' for example lol! it just seemed abit daft.
Basically this is another triumph for Ritchie despite making the same film all over haha Alan Fords portrayal of 'Brick Top' is also probably the most chilling baddie I've seen in years.
Oi!!! geeeza!!
