Snatch. (2000)

It’s hard to judge Snatch. on its own merits, as it is so similar to writer and director Guy Ritchie’s first film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels that it just feels like a bigger budget, flashier, more star-packed remake.  Kind of like Evil Dead II being a shinier, better version of Evil Dead.  However, that doesn’t mean you dismiss Snatch. entirely, as it’s at least the equal of Lock, Stock and some may argue, a better movie altogether.  I’ll stick with equal, though.

It contains many of the same quick cuts, super-slo-mo, pounding soundtrack things that Ritchie popularized in his first film.  If anything, the film is a bit more Americanized, what with the inclusion of Dennis Farina and Brad Pitt.  However, Pitt’s character – Mickey the Pikey – is nearly unintelligible on purpose, and the humour involved in the writing is a bit more accessible than Lock, Stock.  Not sure if that’s something that should be celebrated though, as that just seems to be dumbing down the script for American audiences.  Whatever.

While I rate the film higher than I did back in the day, the writing in my original review was a bit more in-depth and still holds up.  Read that here if you like.

4 / 5