This movie had its moments but they were scattershot, as if all the director could come up with were scenes that mostly led to nowhere. Case in point - we see a poker game in which one of the gambler's friends (a bad dude) stabs to death an obnoxious winner, and later we and the gamblers see him load something into the trunk of his car. When asked about it, he of course lied - so this is setting something up later in the film with the body or him, right? Nope - he disappears completely from the movie.
I also didn't get the narration from the lead character who is a real mess of a human being, and the pseudo-intellectual discussion of good and bad from a 'friend' of his who was mad at the gangsters for trying to rob his friend of a potential huge winning ticket on the horses because HE was going to rob him.
Then somehow after the lead gangster Richard gets the stuffing knocked out of him he pays one of his thugs to kill all 3 within the next 15 minutes BEFORE the final race is run in BROAD DAYLIGHT. But we only see him shoot the young idiot gambler - the other 2 are inside.
So after waiting all movie to see if he wins 360K in pounds the 2 gamblers commiserate over the death of the young guy, then as the 'hero' is walking off mad with a gun in his hand (that can only fire one shot) you hear in passing he's one the bet, then the screen fades to black and you hear a single shot. But none of the bad guys were in the bookie's joint so who was he shooting at? But the worst is that he won the bet and you get none of the satisfaction of having him win and share in the good fortune - nope, not this director, he's too smart, you see.
"Snatch" is a classic. "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" - hilarious. This wanted desperately to capture the essense of those 2 films but the result has nothing in common with them. This was a real loser - avoid it.
I also didn't get the narration from the lead character who is a real mess of a human being, and the pseudo-intellectual discussion of good and bad from a 'friend' of his who was mad at the gangsters for trying to rob his friend of a potential huge winning ticket on the horses because HE was going to rob him.
Then somehow after the lead gangster Richard gets the stuffing knocked out of him he pays one of his thugs to kill all 3 within the next 15 minutes BEFORE the final race is run in BROAD DAYLIGHT. But we only see him shoot the young idiot gambler - the other 2 are inside.
So after waiting all movie to see if he wins 360K in pounds the 2 gamblers commiserate over the death of the young guy, then as the 'hero' is walking off mad with a gun in his hand (that can only fire one shot) you hear in passing he's one the bet, then the screen fades to black and you hear a single shot. But none of the bad guys were in the bookie's joint so who was he shooting at? But the worst is that he won the bet and you get none of the satisfaction of having him win and share in the good fortune - nope, not this director, he's too smart, you see.
"Snatch" is a classic. "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" - hilarious. This wanted desperately to capture the essense of those 2 films but the result has nothing in common with them. This was a real loser - avoid it.