From the Collection: Snatch DVD Review

Periodically I will take a disc from my collection and review it, this week it is that Guy Ritchie classic Snatch.

Snatch – R2 – 2 Disc Collector’s Edition

There is so much happening in Snatch that it may be difficult to pin down what is going on, when its going on, and who it is happening too; but it essentially starts off with two stories that merge towards the end… kind of. The first story involves two unlicensed boxing promoters, Turkish (Jason Statham) and Tommy (Stephen Graham) who get involved with organising an illegal boxing match with local villain Brick Top (Alan Ford). This all starts to go wrong when Mickey (Brad Pitt) an Irish Gypsy boxer doesn’t do what he is told piling pressure on everyone.

The second story line involves Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) who is trying to get a large Diamond back to his boss Avi (Dennis Farina), Franky however has gone missing in London so Avi comes over and speaks to his cousin Doug the Head (Mike Reid) and they get in Bullet Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) to help search for Franky and the missing rock.

The two stories are the catalyst for everything that happens in the film and for me it is a gem of a movie that is funny, violent and full of interesting characters and bad language that all intertwine the only way an early Guy Ritchie film could, you know… back when he made good films.

In fact the film is very much like his previous film Lock Stick and Two Smoking barrels in terms of style and comedic value, however it is not a continuation of that movie even though it does contain a few of the same actors, In fact Ritchie says in the extras that he wanted this to be a lot darker although he concedes that that didn’t really happen.

Personally I love the film, I love the way all the threads of the two story streams come together, the way that the actors embrace their characters and by that I mean all the actors from Tommy and Gorgeous George (Adam Fogerty) all the way through to Mickey and Brick Top (Alan Ford) who incidentally gets all the best lines (just listen to the Nemesis speech).

Some have written that there are too many characters in the film and there is a fair few but I would disagree that there are too many, everyone will have characters that they love and ones they love to hate. Turkish, Tommy, Brick Top and Mickey have their little story, that all revolves around the boxing match and every one of them is superb, Jason Statham as Turkish totally looks the part as the unlicensed boxing promoter, his lines are witty and quick and although he is a little bit of a hard man himself he doesn’t really want to get into owing Brick Top any favours, it is worth noting that Statham character narrates certain aspects of the film in a talk over. Even Stephen Graham’s character Tommy does well as his little sidekick and I am surprised that he has done nothing movie wise since this film.

Brick Top is a rather unhinged gangster, totally ruthless and doesn’t stand any messing about and he will come down hard on those that do, Alan Ford is absolutely fantastic in his role, I would not want to mess with him at all in any way shape or form. Brad Pitts Mickey is exceptional too, I wouldn’t say that he steals the show but the scenes that he is in are ones that you will be waiting for, and his unintelligible chat will have you rewinding scenes if this is your first viewing.

On the other story Benicio Del Toro does really have masses of screen time, but it is his character that starts to ball rolling by stealing the Diamond in the first place. Dennis Farina (Avi) is the would be recipient of the Diamond, he has to come to London when it all goes wrong; again he doesn’t have masses of screen time. Vinnie Jones as Bullet Tooth Tony makes a great gangster, and as someone new to the world of acting (at the time of filming) he really fits in well with these tough guy characters, the speech he gives in the pub is a classic. There are other characters on this side of the story, the best of whom is Boris the Blade (Rade Serbedzija) and totally insane ex KGB agent whom seemingly just cannot be killed. He is one of my favourite characters in the film, totally psychotic and really he is the cause of the mayhem that transpires as it is him that hires people to try and rob Franky of the Diamond.

On a technical point of view though Ritchie had not really pushed himself, in fact Snatch was probably easier to make than Lock Stock, He had a bigger budget and a definitive crowd puller in Brad Pitt in fact since making this film he obviously got involved with Madonna and his films have been panned, namely in the ultra crap Swept Away, and even going back nearer his roots in Revolver have not given him the credibility that he had gained from his first two films. As of writing this his Sherlock Holmes film is in post production and I really just hope that he finds his way back to making really entertaining movies again as it would be a shame to see this talented British film maker fall by the wayside.

Extras:
On the first disc you can listen to a commentary by Director Guy Ritchie and Producer Matthew Vaughn. Switch over to disc two and you get the following.

Song Selection:
This is a collection of 6 songs that feature in the film, these are not standalone but actually show that clip of the film with the accompanying track.

Trailers:
Two trailers, one an international trailer, the other just marked as a trailer.

Soundbites:
This is a set of quick fire interview excerpts; this would have been quite interesting had they interviewed normally and let the camera role, but there are too many cuts making it annoying to watch, although some of the information imparted is good.

Photo library:
As it says a number of still taken throughout the making of the film.
Making of Snatch;
this is quite interesting, a fairly lengthy look into the making of the film, a fair bit of the interview footage is that from the
soundbites.

Productions Notes:
This is obviously text based and maybe interesting to those that like this work of thing.

TV Spots:
A bit like trailers, but for television.

Deleted scenes:
this was quite interesting; you can have them with commentary on or off and I believe there is a feature on disc one called Stealing Stones where you can view these deleted scenes within the film.

Filmographies:
Basically what films some of the actors have been in before.

Storyboard Comparisons:
Exactly what it says on the tin.

b-roll:
A weird little extra that shows two scenes being filmed with Ritchie directing a few of the actors.

Overall:
a thoroughly enjoyable film, the storyline is excellent, that actors all play their roles really well and has the humour that fans of lock stock enjoy. For those not familiar with lock stock, but like gangster films that have menace as well as a little humour then I totally recommend this.

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