Snatch is British Director
Guy Ritchie's second film—his first being the hilarious
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. It is about a group of East London
gangsters,
pushers, ne'r do wells, and other
colorful members of society. The film is immediately recognizable as one of Ritchie’s. Having seen
Lock, Stock... far too many times, I wasn't too surprised to find this film was a near
replica of Ritchie's first film. Not in
story, but rather in the
execution of the movie. The look and feel of the film,
location filming, a collection of interesting characters, and a splintered
plot that comes together right before the credits roll all act on your mind to give you the feeling that
you may have seen this film before.
Ritchie seems aware that he is emulating his first film, and manages to work in a little homage to Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels: Vinnie Jones, who played the vicious yet strangely moral (and wickedly funny) Big Chris in Ritchie's first film, is introduced in Snatch killing, hurting, or otherwise ruining the day of a man in the same manner as Big Chris did in the final quarter of Lock, Stock.... Jones is also given another little speech in this film, which is quickly becoming one of his trademarks as he is rather good at it. This time it involves a Desert Eagle....
I am not in anyway implying that I didn't enjoy Snatch. It is full of acrid British humor, creative cinematography in Ritchie's distinctive style, and features Brad Pitt in an interesting role as a pikey who's speech is so clipped by his accent that no one is able to understand him (dare you to listen to him say Periwinkle Blue and not laugh). Also look for Benicio Del Toro in an interesting, if not brief, role in the film.
Guy Ritchie has said that for his third picture he would like to do a historical film.
Something interesting I noticed while watching Snatch: the name of one of the featured boxers in the film dispatched by Pitt's character is named Bomber Harris. This name is taken from a Monty Python sketch where Graham Chapman is a wrestler who fights himself.