Film Review – Conrad – 8/12/00
Guy Ritchie brings us a London gangster comedy in the same vein as his earlier ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’, and delivers a similarly fast paced, complex weave of characters and plot that entertains from beginning to end. Attempting to explain the plot would involve describing a large number of characters and how they relate to each other, and no doubt was a difficult task for Ritchie who wrote and directed the film. I have to admit to starting to get a slightly overwhelmed feeling at the beginning as so many characters were introduced. It is a credit to Ritchie that he manages to draw such a complex set-up in such a short period of time and have it make sense, and this is achieved with some clever editing and film techniques, along with traditional gangster movie introductions such as the freeze on a character while his name prints out with a voice-over description from the narrator, before moving on.
The plot basically revolves around a rather large stolen diamond that everyone wants to get their hands on, some because of greed and others to save their own skin. Along the way we get to meet a lot of ‘hard men’, and a lot of ‘wannabe hard men’ some of whom provide quite a few laughs through their ineptitude. Plot strands include two amateur boxing promoters who get involved in illegal fights and match fixing, and whose lives end up depending on an Irish Gypsy one-punch wonder who is supposed to “go down in the fourth” but can’t help knocking his opponent out. Another strand involves three inept gangsters and a dog, who bungle every job they attempt, and whose dog you just know is going to become a crucial part of the plot. Eventually all plot strands converge in a climax of mayhem and carnage and everything gets ‘sorted’. The complexity of the plot requires that there can be no extra ‘fat’ and means that everything you see is there for a reason. This extends to the dialogue which sounds like authentic East End, and is often characterised by pithy lines that speed past and leave you chuckling while still trying to keep up with where they’re leading. Some of the best lines are the ‘hard man’ threats delivered in the many stand-off situations. Others include Brick Top (a vicious local kingpin played by Alan Ford) describing the best method for disposing of a body (it involves a lot of pigs) and Bullet Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) calmly talking his way out of a holdup until his protagonists end up backing away looking for a way out. For such a character based film it is essential to get the right actors, those with the right look and feel and capable of an authentic accent, and again Ritchie hits the mark. Many (such as Alan Ford and Vinnie Jones) just appear to be playing themselves. Rade Sherbedgia as Boris the Blade is a very convincing Russian gangster who just won’t die. Then there is the surprise of Brad Pitt playing the Irish Gypsy Mickey O’Neill (he of the one punch knockout) who delivers a barely comprehensible Irish accent and is certainly convincing in the part. Apparently he saw ‘Lock, Stock’ and asked Ritchie for a part in his next film.
The best recommendation for seeing this film is if you liked ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’. If you can’t bring yourself to laugh at violence you should steer clear. Similarly if you prefer movies that make a social or political statement or challenge you to think, this one does none of those things. However if you enjoy creative action and cartoon violence you should find it to be a highly entertaining ride with a lot of laughs.
See the Official Site:
www.snatch-themovie.com
