Snatch (2000) User Reviews

There are few films that can make me laugh like this one can

[FilmOtaku · 9/10 · 24 August 2004]

`Snatch', written and directed by Guy Ritchie is by far one of my favorite films of all time – it is easily in my personal Top Thirty. In the film, about (what else?) several schemes that happen to go very wrong yet manage to intertwine and (for better or worse) resolve themselves in the end, Ritchie assembles one of the funniest cast of characters in recent memory. Let's see if we can keep this straight:

Turkish (Jason Statham) and his partner Tommy (Stephen Graham) are amateur boxing promoters who, after their premier fighter is wounded, have to find a replacement to fight, or one of the meanest guys in London, Brick Top (Alan Ford), who just happens to run the boxing matches and stands to make a lot of money off of the fight is going to impart his unique brand of justice on them. Enter Mickey (Brad Pitt) the gypsy who knocked their fighter out, who is an unintelligible drunk with quite a right hook. Meanwhile, there is a diamond `the size of a fist' that has been stolen by Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro). On his way back from London to America where he is planning on fencing the diamond, trouble ensues, and his fence, Cousin Avi (Dennis Farina) is forced to come to London to find both Franky and the diamond with the help of characters like Bullet Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) and Doug `The Head' Denovitz (Mike Reid). Of course, this can't happen easily, as there are a trio of inept thieves on the trail of the diamond as well as my personal favorite character in the film, Boris `The Blade' Yurinov (Rade Serbedzija) – or as he's better known, `Boris the Bullet Dodger'.

Did you get all that? The performances by all of the above actors, and several more that I didn't even mention are all really good, particularly Brad Pitt's. Every single actor in `Snatch' looks like they are having one hell of a good time working in the film. This story, while complex and with many ramifications from the core plot is absolutely brilliant and a lot of fun. There are many one-liners that I still personally use four years after first seeing the film, and the intricate weaving of the characters to tell a very simple heist story is just SO good. `Snatch' would be a great film due to its story alone, but Guy Ritchie's direction is so dead on, the film transcends brilliant and becomes FAN-insert your choice of expletive here-TASTIC. The slick cinematography, lightning-fast pacing and fun camera angles are right on target with the story. Add on a great soundtrack that spans Oasis, techno and a traditional-sounding Hasidic song and Ritchie has presented the viewer with an instant classic.

While this was not the first time I had seen the film `Snatch', it was the first time I'd watched the film knowing that I would have to analyze it slightly in order to funnel my thoughts from the film just being `Phenomenal!' to `Phenomenal because…..' While I can certainly be classified as an unabashed Madonna fan, and have been for the last two decades, I REALLY hope that Ritchie decides to drop his wife from his film work and not continue on the `Swept Away' path, rather, to get back to the work that has earned him well-deserved high praise. Sorry Madge.

--Shelly

Lock, Stock, and Many Smoking Barrels

[Shiva-11 · 8/10 · 14 January 2001]

The release of Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" in 1994 prompted a schism in the staid gangster movie genre: the standard hallmarks - serious characters, gunfights, intrigue and damsels in distress - were enhanced with snappy dialogue, and gallows humour. The biggest change however was the introduction of the mobius strip-style plot line, where the concept of time is no longer linear, instead constantly folding in upon itself, flitting between past, present and future that forces the viewer to pay close attention lest they miss some subtle detail. Inevitably, numerous copycat films emerged that tried to capitalize on Tarantino's success, but it wasn't until 1998 when Guy Ritchie, an unknown British director, took on the challenge that a successor was found. Now Ritchie is determined to prove that his first time out wasn't a fluke.

Turkish is a young man with an entrepreneurial bent, who, when he's not running his gambling operation, manages bareknuckle boxers. Through a business deal gone wrong, he becomes acquainted with one Mickey O'Neil, a mumbling manic motor-mouthed piker who also happens to be a one-punch marvel. Turkish persuades Mickey to join his stable of fighters, but soon discovers that Mickey has his own agenda, and gets Turkish in trouble with the gangsters who run the underground boxing circuit. Other characters that become involved in the drama include a four-fingered degenerate gambler/jewel thief, a vicious boxing promoter, a gang of inept robbers, a polite hitman, a crazed Russian gun runner, a group of Irish gypsies, a crooked New York jeweler and a pugnacious pet. The common thread binding them all is a perfect diamond the size of a peach pit. If you aren't confused yet, you soon will be.

"Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", Mr. Madonna's (Ritchie) first film, was shot on a small budget, with a no-name cast (except for football bad boy Vinnie Jones) and quickly became a rousing success at home and found receptive audiences abroad. While not a technically a sequel "Snatch" is stylistically very similar to "Lock, Stock…": Ritchie utilizes his trademark bombastic staccato sequences, and repeatedly bounces off on radical tangents to throw the viewer off balance. He did however opt for a decidedly darker satirical tone in this film, that may make some people uncomfortable (think "Very Bad Things"). What struck me as particularly daring was his decision to create a story with such a voluminous cast.

Ritchie faced a daunting task with this film: how, with roughly twenty principal characters, does one adequately flesh out each character, and not hopelessly confuse the audience? The feat was made doubly difficult, as several cast members are big name stars. Somehow Ritchie manages - each actor is full bodied, receives ample screen time, and no one character is the centerpiece. With so many talented actors, it is difficult to pick out one performance that stands out: Rade Serbedzija is hilarious as the mad Russian who blithely burns through each of his nine lives, as is Vinnie Jones' manic gentleman hitman. On the other end of the spectrum, is Alan Ford as Brick Top, the promoter with a penchant for pigs, who epitomizes cold-blooded viciousness. If forced to pick my favorite however, I would have to go with Brad Pitt

Pitt resurrects his trailer trash look from "Kalifornia" and adopts a nearly indecipherable brogue that sounds like my best friend's Uncle Wally on a bad day. As Mickey O'Neil, the hard drinking wily grifter and part-time pugilist, Pitt displays a wide range of emotions, demonstrating again that he is not only a star, but also a gifted character actor. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the dog that subtly stole every scene he appeared in.

While "Snatch" initially struggles to find its stride, and is very similar to Ritchie's earlier film, it is fresh and funny enough to make you forget any minor shortfalls and stand on its own.

Just as much fun as Lock, Stock. Snatch is a great and entertaining movie.

[Keyser Soze-12 · 9/10 · 21 January 2001]

Imagine what would happen if you took 8 or 10 criminals of various professions, threw them into a maze, gave one of the criminals a diamond the size of a fist, and yelled out load, "SOMEONE IN THIS MAZE HAS A HUGE DIAMOND! WHOEVER FINDS IT AND IS THE LAST MAN STANDING, WINS!" What do you think would happen? Snatch is what happens.

Snatch is a confusing, twisting, crazy movie. Let me repeat that. This movie is crazy! Imagine the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disney Word on acid, and this is what you get my friend. Believe it or not, this mass confusion and complete insanity is very, very entertaining.

The movie has it's problems. First off, for those of you who have seen Snatch's predecessor, (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), you know that Guy Richie (the writer and director of both films) has a very music-video style as far as the camera angles, movements, and cinematography goes. The strange camera techniques get so mad with lunacy that I noticed people walking out of the theater. I was also turned off by this madness. However, most of this insane crap gets over within the first hour, so it doesn't last.

If any of you people out there loved Lock Stock as much as I did, do yourself a favor and see this movie as fast as you can. Snatch is a bit more serious than Lock Stock, but when it's funny, you'll laugh till your lungs burst. It was nice to see Vinnie Jones, who was Big Chris in the last movie, return as the same basic character (only now named Bullet Tooth Tony) and doing the same "slamming victim's head in a car door" act again. The performances were just as great as Lock Stock, with Jason Statham and Pitt leading the pack. I was disappointed to see that Bendicio Del Toro didn't have a bigger role. I was expecting him to be a lead character, but he's not.

So, in conclusion, if you have never seen Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, I would see that first before seeing Snatch so you can get adjusted to Guy Richie's style. I still think that it is stupid to compare either two movies to Pulp Fiction (unlike most people), but it is in the same ballpark as Pulp. That means if you liked Pulp, you will most likely like Snatch and Lock, Stock. If you have never seen Pulp or Lock Stock, you have deprived your life of culture.

9/10

A movie that has it all

[dazza11 · 1 September 2000]

A film about boxing, diamonds, gangsters pretending to be Jews, a fat getaway driver, a rather vicious dog and man eating pigs. Guy Richie has followed the success of Lock, Stock with an equally stunning and ambitious return just as Tarantino did with Pulp Fiction. The characters are so colourful they jump right off the screen, the dialogue so snappy you want to learn it by heart and the acting simply wonderful. Vinnie Jones reveals he can act and Brad Pitt shows that he is far more than a pretty face and could well win a best supporting actor oscar for his role as Irish Mickey. See this movie!!!!

A Comedy Masterpiece

[SpudMons · 10/10 · 3 September 2000]

"Snatch" is fantastic; and not least because it demonstrates emphatically that the British movie industry is capable of rivaling even the best of what Hollywood can offer.

"Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" was one of the funniest movies released in recent years, and "Snatch" takes everything that "Lock, Stock..." did so well and does it even better.

Back are the cleverly intertwined plotlines, the hilarious one-liners, and the simultaneously intimidating and comedic London villains. So is the skillful editing, and often original cinematographic style. This time however, it all looks somewhat slicker and better funded, and alongside the British regulars are the odd American celebrity (Brad Pitt, Benicio Del Toro).

Everyone in the film puts in an excellent performance, but Pitt stands out as a charismatic and near-incomprehensible Gypsy boxer.

Like Ritchie's earlier film, this one takes a little while to find its feet, but once it does the pace doesn't slacken until the finale. One scene featuring three guys and a squeaking dog in a stolen car stands out particularly, and left the audience at my local cinema almost weeping as punchline after punchline was uttered.

When it comes to comedies, I cannot recommend this one highly enough. If you're after a good laugh, you won't find much to better "Snatch".

Do You Know What Nemesis Means?

[marty_666 · 10/10 · 26 August 2004]

I was never really too keen on "Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels". All my friends constantly quoted it, raved and ranted, and then when "Snatch" came out, everyone made an even bigger deal of that. I watched Lock Stock, and though I did like it, it didn't really tickle my fancy. But Snatch, that's a completely different story all together.

When I saw Snatch at the cinemas, I was shocked to see a couple leave only fifteen minutes into the film. As they left, you could hear their intellectually deficient comments; "this movie is so boring". I couldn't believe it! I'd recommend this movie to ANYONE, The Pope even!

There are hundreds of thousands of reasons for anyone to see this movie; each word of the script being a reason.

Snatch is possibly one of THE best written movies I've seen. It's smart, witty, funny and has just the right touches of dark humour. With characters like Turkish, Mickey, Tommy, Brick Top, Bullet Tooth Tony and Cousin Avi; their witty repartee will have your personal quotes list full for months after watching it. The camera work and editing complement each other to keep the film's pace on its toes, much like the boxers at the center of the character's stories.

Jason Statham has some of THE best lines in the movie, constantly slamming anything even slightly intelligent his partner Tommy has to say. Brad Pitt turns out an excellent performance as the Irish-Gypsy-Pykie Mickey; his accent is hilarious.

Even though the story line is only a simple one (following a massive Diamond through England's criminal underworld), it is the connections each character has to the diamond and each other that really makes this film stand out from all the usual jewel-heist films.

Another 10 / 10 from me on this one, it's just a pity the follow up to Snatch was a "collaborative effort" from Mr. Richie and his um.......wife.

Guy Richie and Vinnie Jones have done it again!

[willeniams · 10/10 · 28 August 2000]

Guy Richie's follow up to Lock Stock and Two Smoking barrels is every bit as astonishing as its predecessor. The humour is better and I have never seen people in a cinema laugh as loud and as frequently as they did here. Vinnie Jones plays a similar role as Big Chris, here as Bullet Tooth Tony. His appearance is limited but boy does he make an impact. Even when he is not on screen there is much to savour from Dennis Farina as Avi and a trio of pawnbrokers who are sent to rob a bookies. Brad Pitt sheds his movie start personna and preforms impressively as an Irish gypsie. Unlike Lock Stock.. the humour will appeal to all nationalities. However they mind some slang expressions such as Pikey and blag hard to understand. Good preformances, fantastic characters, razor sharp diologue, expert direction and camera work and brilliant humour, Snatch will make you laugh more than any other movie this year. See it now.

Perfect

[LivingDog · 10/10 · 17 February 2003]

This movie is perfect in all its categories: credits, sound track, production, casting, writing, photography, editing, acting, and direction. 10/10.

I was amazed with the freedom of the use of the camera. This movie will change the way movies are made. Slow-mo, stills, black and white, and color were all used to brilliant effect.

I must pick out specific actors who were just over the top - meaning 10+!

Jason Statham as "Turkish" is simply superb - a star of very high caliber. (You should see him in anything he made, and read my comment about John Carpenter's movie: "Ghosts of Mars.")

Alan Ford as "Brick Top" is terrifying - his forced speaking style made me think that he was chewing on the flesh of his previous victim.

Vinnie Jones as "Bullet Tooth Tony" is total tough head to foot tough - a walking brick wall - a marine for all seasons - none tougher.

Brad Pitt as "Mickey O'Neil" is utterly 110% convincing. I never liked Mr. Pitt's work before this - but this one totally sold me - he is as solid an actor as ever came out of Hollywood... and better!

Finally, Guy Ritchie should be recognized as a Michelangelo of film.

-LD

The pinnacle of Guy Ritchie's career

[Leofwine_draca · 10/10 · 23 December 2016]

This sleek, stylish and very effective black comedy-cum crime thriller is an excellent movie, and one of those rare 'perfect' films where it would be difficult to spot one flaw let alone a number. A follow-up to Guy Ritchie's powerhouse debut, LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, this sees the director in familiar territory with a haphazard plot involving a stolen diamond and an Irish gypsy boxer. It doesn't make much sense, there's no story, but what you do get are hundreds of twists and turns and confrontations, some absolutely hilarious scenes of comedy (anything with the dog in it is a classic) and tons of class acting and class actors.

Jason Statham is great as the cool underdog; Alan Ford will scare the heck out of you as the supremely nasty Brick Top. Brad Pitt is welcome as the unintelligible Irish bare-knuckle boxer and his performance is spot-on, whilst Vinnie Jones makes a welcome return as gold-toothed bad guy Bullet Tooth Tony. Expect a host of cameos and walk-ons (Dennis Farina is particularly good, Benicio del Toro is particularly weird and spineless, Abe as Tyrone is hilarious), including small roles for our very own Goldie, Ewen Bremner, and Mike Reid, and you have a wonderfully wicked little film. SNATCH is packed with cool and punchy dialogue, originality, and a welcome freshness to the story, tons and tons of style, lots of violence and hilarious situations and much, much more. A real winner of a film.

Subtitles A Must To Really Enjoy This

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 7 March 2006]

I would imagine viewers would either really love this movie or be totally turned off. It is presented in a different format for its time (since copied), has very odd and profane characters, accents that are difficult to understand, and tells an unpleasant story with some disgusting scenes. So, why do I enjoy this film, being an old-fashioned so-and-so?

Well, because I usually enjoy "stylish" film-making and dark humor and this has both in abundance. This is almost as stylish as it gets: fascinating visuals, odd camera angles and various tricks, sound effects, etc. Most of the characters in this bizarre crime film have colorful nicknames and most speak in a strong British accent. A gypsy, played by American Brad Pitt, is almost intelligible.

This is why I strongly recommend you use English subtitles while watching this film, at least for the first viewing, or you will totally lost. The DVD offers a feature I've never seen before: the option of using subtitles solely for Pitt's character. The filmmakers knew few people were going to understand Pitt's weird way of speaking. Anyway, I recommend the subtitles for everyone. It makes the film more enjoyable when you know what's going on, especially with the many slang terms used in here that have to be totally foreign to most viewers outside GB.

Since the action changes every two minutes to another scene with other people (Lord of The Rings subsequently did the same), it's had to get lulled to sleep or have your mind wander. Something wacky is going on every few minutes. The attitudes of the criminals are rough: these are low-life people in the underworld: extremely tough people with the toughest being "Bricktop" (Alan Ford) who likes to feed people to the pigs. There are a ton of f-words in here, too.

The disjointed story is not easy to follow and I found I needed several viewings to understand everything that was going on. The characters are so strange, so cartoon-like, that - combined with the unique visuals - it makes it a fascinating film to watch every time. Some of these actors were fairly unknown at the time of this release , at least here in the States, such as Jason Statham ("The Transporter") but we know them know. There is a good mix of young and old actors in here.

This is a guy's movie with the top dozen actors in this film all tough-talking, almost-crude men (plus a funny dog). It's so weird, I'll just end with the cliché that "this is not for all tastes" but if you enjoy dark humor and something totally different, you might want to give it a shot. Just remember to turn on the subtitles.

Guy Ritchie's style on full display

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 29 April 2014]

Turkish (Jason Statham) and his buddy Tommy are two low life boxing promoters. They get entangled with a diamond heist when they try to get incomprehensible Mickey (Brad Pitt) to fight for them. Meanwhile the wild casts of underworld criminals get involved with this boxing match.

Writer/director Guy Ritchie introduces the audience to a vast array of wild and crazy criminals. It's his second movie after 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'. He has a crazy unique style. The story is hard to follow, but it's not actually the most important part of the movie. It's Guy Ritchie's unreserved style and excessive energy that is on display here. It's a constant stream of outrageous characters, over the top mannerisms, and great actors having loads of fun. Brad Pitt is completely wacko. There is just so much going on in this one.

Snatch

[auuwws · 9/10 · 27 December 2020]

A very interesting movie, the black and gypsy people in the film were very funny, Brad Pitt created a movie. This is a Russian character who was enjoyable especially the scene of her death, the film villain could have used better, most of the comedy scenes in the film were funny I really enjoyed watching it

An energetically eclectic, hyperactive yet occasionally unfocused comedy of errors.

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 7/10 · 8 March 2018]

'Snatch (2000)' is an energetically eclectic, hyperactive yet occasionally unfocused comedy of errors in which whatever could go wrong does go wrong. It's a series of eventually intertwining parallel stories each centred around a stolen stone which feature a cast of colourful, mostly inept characters with slightly weird names and a mainly cockney lilt (aside from the Russian, the American and the sort-of-but-not-really Irish thing that Brad Pitt tries to do). It deals in stereotypes and the comedy is pretty broad, but the film isn't so much funny as it is exhaustively coincidental in a strangely compelling way, with the usually dumb-as-bricks characters making a major mistake only to run into someone (sometimes literally) who then fixes that mistake or changes their path entirely. It's not so much a straightforward narrative as one that keeps you guessing as to where it's going to go while simultaneously not mattering at all, as it's the individual situations themselves that entertain. The fact it all ties together in the end is, strangely, kind of a bonus. 7/10

You must have already decided to love it before watching...

[iKramerica-1 · 4/10 · 8 April 2009]

That's the only way I can explain these rave reviews and 8.2 average. Because if you come into the movie actually looking for a great story with great acting and diverse, interesting characters, well, you won't get it. But if you've decided you like "hip, cool, wise cracking British gangsters" and Guy Ritchie's ADD style of directing before you even sit down, then you'll decide this is just what you thought it would be, and give it a 10.

That's the only way I can fathom how people thought this was a great movie, let alone a good movie. I mean, if you take every cliché ever put into a gangster film and rehash it with tommy gun rapidity, that's the first 15 minutes of Snatch. And it just keeps going, and going. I got so bored with it, I stopped watching. So maybe it's really great in the end? I doubt it...

I liked it, is that so wrong?

[sllovejoy · 6 February 2002]

I am a 33 year old woman in a flowered dress who doesn't drink, rarely swears, sleeps with a teddy bear, and has never raised a hand to anyone in my life. But I liked this movie a lot, and according to someone who wrote a review earlier, that makes me personally responsible for the violence in America. I'm sorry - I never intended to hurt anyone.

As for the movie - I usually get confused in fast-paced movies with so many characters, but when I watched Snatch I was able to keep all the characters straight pretty easily because each one had something unique and quirky about him. I liked that, and I liked the accents, and I liked the silly plot-twist humor, and I liked the dogs. The evil men were EVIL ("so evil you would call it the froo-its of the dev-eel" to quote Mike Meyers). The bumbling men were endearing. The music was great.

It was very violent (more so than Pulp Fiction, I think). Yet somehow it did not offend me and looking back at it I still laugh out loud.

Oh, and I never saw "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels", for whatever that's worth.

Might be my Favorite Movie

[meaningbird · 10/10 · 14 March 2020]

So I just saw Snatch and it might be my favorite movie I've ever seen. It is filled with so much fun and funny moments that it made the film so enjoyable to the point where it made me want to write a full review for it. All the cast is great and play their roles really well. The film's comedy is probably the best part about this film. My stomach hurt from laughter because of how funny this film is. This is the end of the non-spoiler section of the review. Another Great part of this movie is the great plot twists especially the one near the end.

Overall this movie was great and I loved every moment of it

I give Snatch an A+

Well edited and darkly funny

[anselmdaniel · 9/10 · 6 March 2021]

This review contains spoilers.

Snatch is a comedy movie that premiered in 2000. The movie is directed and written by Guy Ritchie. The movie stars an ensemble cast including Jason Statham, Stephen Graham, and Brad Pitt. A boxing promoter finds himself indebted to a ruthless gangster while a group of criminals search for a missing diamond.

Snatch is a wildly funny movie. The humor derived from the movie is from the progressively ridiculous scenes that the movie creates. There are so many ridiculous scenes in this movie that make the movie memorable. Among these is Bullet-Dodger Avi, and his introduction, the drifter Mickey O'Neil played by Brad Pitt, and the ludicrous ways for the various characters to die. The movie blends all of these with stylish editing.

The editing of this movie is by far one of the most electric parts of this movie. The editing and soundtrack keeps the movie at a fast pace as much of the movie depends on the energetic style of the editing. The characters in this movie are straightforward. They do not embark on a character arc. The characters interacting with one another is the appeal of this movie. From the start with every character's introduction, the audience knows what each of the characters wants. The movie is clear with each of the character's intent and nothing deviates from that.

The characters are all distinct in this movie from their costumes to their mannerisms. Brad Pitt as Mickey O'Neill deserves mention for his impossible to decipher accent that made the audience and characters believe he is not speaking English. The rest of the characters all have distinct mannerisms. Even Jason Statham has a great intro as Turkish.

I would recommend 'Snatch'.

Grade: B

My stomach hurts! It literally hurts!

[jon-larsen · 10/10 · 14 December 2010]

Last year I was working on the IMDb Top 250 list, and I noticed that Snatch was on the list, so I decided to take a look at it. I was in Denmark at that time. I live in Faroe Islands.

I stayed at my uncle's apartment, and he told me that you have to watch some of Guy Ritchie's movies before watching Snatch to get to know his movies better, so I watched Revolver. I was not very keen on it and then I was not looking forward to see Snatch.

While my uncle was not at home, I decided to watch it. I wanted to turn it off after the first second, because I thought it was so weird. I'm 14 years old now, and I knew almost nothing about cinema back then, and I had never seen such a movie like Snatch, and it's style! I thought it would be stupid of me to turn it off after 1 second so I kinda forced myself to watch it. To be honest, I actually loved the weird style after 10 minutes!

The cinematography was great. I had never seen something like that before and the editing was just as great too. There were lots of great characters and the script was excellent. It was funny and clever and it will you make you laugh every single second! This movie is like Pulp Fiction. You can almost quote every line! The acting was totally awesome! Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones and the rest were great, but Brad Pitt totally stole the show!

I was thinking to myself "This movie can't be any better!", but then it got better! Brad Pitt showed up! His accent got me laughing all the time! My stomach hurt, it literally hurt, and I got many bruises on my thighs because I could not stop hitting myself from laughing!

This was one of the few movies that I didn't want to end, so I decided to watch it again the next day and the next day after that.

I have seen a lot of movies in my life, but there are few movies that are better than this one! It's definitely in my top 15 of all time.

It truly deserves a 10/10

In the quiet words of the Virgin Mary... come again?

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 5 July 2015]

Snatch seems to be one of those spunky British gangster films that critics are divided on, yet it's loved by the target audience. Guy Ritchie has done a Sam Raimi, he has remade the first film that put him on the cinematic map. Where Raimi remade The Evil Dead, and just called it Evil Dead II, Ritchie cheekily tries to get away with remaking Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and calling it Snatch. Sure the circumstances in plotting are different, and there's a big American star brought in to beef things up for the global market, but it's the same movie and without doubt it's lazy film making. But it still - like Evil Dead II - Rocks!

Snatch in story terms is concerned with a big diamond that stitches together a number of threads involving the London underworld. Some rough and tough Romany types join in the fun, headed by a purposely illegible Brad Pitt, while Dennis Farina, Benicio Del Toro and Rade Serbedzija add more cosmopolitan meat to the crooks and gangster stew. The British cement holding the building up comes in the twin forms of Jason Statham and Stephen Graham, with Vinnie Jones once again turning up to frighten the masses. Everything from bare knuckle fighting to bumbled robberies - to dog fighting and shifty arcade empires - are here, with Ritchie writing characterisations that positively boom off of the screen.

As with "Lock-Stock", the beauty is in the way violence and humour are deftly blended. Scenes are often bloody but also bloody funny, a pearl of dialogue is never far away from a perilous situation. The comic tone is more close to the knuckle here, Ritchie having fun toying with ethnic and machismo stereotypes, while he brings his bag of visual tricks before it got boring. The narrative is deliciously complex, but much credit to Ritchie for the way he pulls all the threads neatly together in a whirl of scene splicing and cocky literary assuredness.

So it's "Lock-Stock 2" then! No bad thing if you happen to be a fan of that sort of wide boy malarkey. If you don't like it? Then jog on sunshine. 8/10

Guy Ritchie's Best

[cagebox111 · 8/10 · 15 June 2021]

Snatch is the best Guy Ritchie has to offer. While quite similar to Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch is better acted, better paced, overall more compelling, and has a more satisfying ending. There is really nothing wrong with Snatch, its just solid entertainment.

Snatch is just a fun ride all around.

[h-28658 · 8/10 · 22 April 2020]

Its filled with plenty of hilarious British dark humor. The story is interesting and is filled with many great and memorable characters. Guy Ritchie's directing is amazing here. Just like The Gentlemen , this movie is full of energy and great camera work.

Slick,quick,but ultimately empty gangster opus

[BJJManchester · 6/10 · 4 March 2008]

Upper middle-class mockney Guy Ritchie virtually remakes his previous hit LOCK,STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS,but this time with a larger budget,the addition of a Hollywood big-name (Brad Pitt),and even more flamboyant surface style than before.But this does not disguise the excessively complicated plot,the rather glib characterisations (not enhanced by jokey,Runyonese monikers),and the undoubted emptiness that lies beneath Ritchie's directorial excesses which threatened to get out of hand on LOCK STOCK;it certainly goes several miles overboard in SNATCH,which is to the film's considerable detriment.It is quite obvious that Ritchie is impersonating such American filmmakers as Scorcese and Tarantino (who himself has always been somewhat derivative of other directors,and judging by his recent efforts seems to be running out of the ideas he once had),though the gangster epics made by the aforementioned had far more style,depth,wit and conviction about them.Ritchie's closeted,wealthy background means that his essay in low-life criminality comes across as a caricatured,stylised fantasy,which admittedly is slick and very fast-paced,but lacking in the slightest bit of profundity.He may think his various directorial flourishes which he frequently employs here (and to a somewhat lesser extent in LOCK STOCK) are clever and the epitome of innovation,but they are actually anything but;merely designed to cover the obviousness of the plot,they rapidly become wearisomely flashy,and so resistibly self regarding as to become monstrous and indeed wholly pointless and unnecessary;subtler and quieter directorial techniques would've been much more credible and effective.

The cast involved (Alan Ford,Jason Statham,Lennie James,Dennis Farina among them) appearing as various English,American and Russian mobsters are mostly adequate but are merely reduced to a back-seat ensemble due to Ritchie's directorial self-gratification.As with LOCK STOCK,Vinnie Jones plays Vinnie Jones again,though with even less persuasion this time,the soundtrack includes a tune from Ritchie's future spouse Madonna (it's doubtful much money had to paid for the copyright there),and Pitt is rather foolish as a virtually unintelligible Irish Traveller who gets dragged in to this most complex of stories.The only female role of any note comes from Sorcha Cusack as Pitt's mother,and that consists of a mere sprinkling of exposition. SNATCH has it's merits but like it's somewhat better predecessor LOCK STOCK,mostly gives the undeniable impression that it is overwhelmingly pleased with it's own bravado,which when you look more closely is not as outstanding as it believes it is.And Ritchie's subsequent flops (SWEPT AWAY,REVOLVER) means he will have to tone down his narcissism very soon or his career may never recover.

RATING:5 and a half out of 10.

For Every Action, There's A Pikey Reaction!

[GirishGowda · 10/10 · 14 April 2010]

I saw Sherlock Holmes a couple of months ago and it was very good. I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed that and my friends were raving about Guy Ritchie's style of film-making. So, now I wanted to see Ritchie's previous works & rented out Snatch as it was 135 in the top 250 of IMDb. I have to say I was very impressed. I didn't want to know anything about this film beforehand as it takes away something from the experience and told my friends to shut up about the plot of Snatch. This was Jason Statham's second film, he was not so well known and Brad Pitt was already a superstar. This is one of the best films out there and I totally agree with IMDb users.

So, this is the plot. Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.

Turkish (Jason Statham) and Mickey O'Neil (Brad Pitt) are obviously the first reason anyone would want to watch to the film. I cannot believe how awesome both Statham & Pitt were in this movie. Tommy is like Turkish's brother, they have known each other for a long time. Turkish is a boxing promoter. He entangles himself in Brick Top's hands, who is a bookmaker and Brick Top is a man you wouldn't want to end up owing him. Franky Four Fingers has a large diamond, 86 carats, which he stole and he is in league with cousin Avi. Boris The Blade wants the diamond. Everyone's a gangster or a goon, so this is a film which has nobody but thugs. Doug The Head is a dealer & if anyone knows about the diamond, he is the man. He has two twin daughters working as his assistants in his shop. Anyway, Tommy wants a caravan for himself and Turkish and goes to the pikeys to buy one. But, there he is scammed and Gorgeous George (Turkish's boxer in the unlicensed match in which Brick Top has invested a large amount of money) and Mickey fight it out in a bare knuckle match and Mickey wins, so George is out for a few months. Now, Turkish hires Mickey as the boxer for the match. The deal was that Mickey had to go down in the fourth round, but he wins in one shot, which doesn't go down too well with Brick Top. Sol and his bumbling amateur robbers get involved with the diamond, the damn dog is in all the scenes they are in which is very funny. Bullet Tooth Tony also wants the diamond. You know what? Trying to explain the plot line is ridiculous. All you need to know is, the story is set in London and most of the English spoken is in British accent.

Mickey's mom is burned down along with the caravan by Brick Top because Mickey tried to get a new caravan for his mother from Turkish and had said he wouldn't fight till he got it. That was very touching, the expression on Brad Pitt's face made me so sad for his mother, I felt is anguish & anger. That was a defining moment in the film. Then the big finale match at the end of the film was just awesome. Tommy, Turkish, Mickey's life and the lives of the whole family and friends of Mickey are on the line on this match. Being the bastard Mickey is, he could not possibly go down in the fourth round at least this time, can he? Brad Pitt, Jason Statham & everybody give an engrossing performance. The film is pure brilliancy on the part of Guy Ritchie, the man has style ingrained on his bones, every scene is visually stylistic and the dialogues are superb, the background score is also really catchy. The way he has interwoven the lives of all these characters is brilliant. How else can you empathize with these characters who are all basically villains going against each other? One thing is for sure, you cannot predict one scene in the film, no matter how many movies you have watched. Go snatch a copy of 'Snatch' (I am lame, I know.)

10/10

Good golly Miss Molly! One of a kind!

[EijnarAmadeus · 7/10 · 15 June 2003]

SNATCH (2000) Director Guy Ritchie flix this must have movie into the South - English culture with brutal gangsters and one punching taters.

Brad Pitt, Jason Statham, Benicio del Toro, Dennis Farina and Vinnie Jones, all this good actors operates in this violent crime comedy that really entertians you! Depressive and smartass mood twisted into a state of mind of strong language and rough'n'tough characters. Explosive with its brutal way of telling its story. Benicio del Toro and Brad Pitt steals much of the show with their two indispensable parts of the movie (though del Toro's not too big). It may have some things like remind you off Fight Club and stuff, but it is without doubt very much the same of Ritchie's other English gangster movie Lock, Stock and Two smoking Barrels (also with Vinnie Jones). The story is fast and very nice put together where you switch cameras sometimes and may in the background you can see things happening in the other camera view, very good Guy!

Statham is great and together with his partner Tommy they work for a brtual and disgusting gangster boss. They hire Mickey, a hard punching man living off selling caravans and loves his mum. We also get too mett Franky Four Fingers that are coming over from USA with some heavy diamonds...and more like that stuff... It is all about it's tagline: Stealin' stones Breakin' bones STARS: **** 4/5 (fast, violent and ugly)

Disappointing, lack lustre and callous....

[mattcrowder-2 · 5/10 · 19 September 2000]

I really looked forward to watching Snatch. Not only was it from the director of 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', one of my favourite UK movies of all time, but it had Brad Pitt in, who since Twelve Monkeys and Fight Club is my numero uno cool actor.

But I ended up greeting many of the attempts at humour with a stoney face, found some of the images (notably the one with the body bags) just gross and distasteful and the entire plot lacking in the FUN that had been Lock, Stock.

The plot didn't seem to weave as much - the diamond changed hands predictably, the comedy dog wasn't and some of the gags were so...sitcom-like. Ooooh...a fat man having trouble getting out the car.

The characters were bad too. Ah, he has a cockney accent that's all we need to know about him. Ah, everyone f***ing hates Pikies. That's funny repetition.

The violence didn't fit with the cheeky style the film attempted...It makes me angry to think how much better Lock, Stock is. And it's a warning to ppl making a 'next' movie - change the plot, setting, chracters, tone, etc. so that comparisons between two movies are left abstract.

Snatch is the half-backed sequel to Lock, Stock. But Ritchie sold out earlier than Lucas. If you look carefully you can see Ewoks everywhere.....or is it just lack of originality?