(Review originally written at 25 March 2006)
This is top-class entertainment. The movie is brilliantly constructed and has its own unique style. Both the story and characters are over-the-top and therefor also extremely fun.
This is a movie were basically is very little wrong with. It's some perfect mindless entertainment but with a complicated storyline. So it's still a sort of movie with a story, which you have to pay a lot of attention to, while watching. The movie is made in the same style as the previous Guy Ritchie movie, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels". There are lots of similarities between these two movies, so if you liked "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" you'll most likely also really like this movie as well.
Main difference with "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" though, is that this movie has a 'bigger' cast with some more well known names in it. Jason Statham who made his debut in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" plays the main character in this movie. Brad Pitt plays a very fun role and fits surprisingly well into the typical British storyline and atmosphere of the movie. Also well known actors like Benicio Del Toro and Dennis Farina fit in very well into the story and the movie in general. But perhaps the biggest positive surprise of the movie was Vinnie Jones. He had been given quite some dialog in this movie and he shows that he really can act. Most movies he plays in, he is given very little dialog, a shame because judging by just this movie, he is a very talented actor.
Maybe the movie becomes a bit too complex at times, which is mainly due to the very many characters that play a prominent role in the story. It perhaps gets a bit too much at times but overall it doesn't make the movie any less fun to watch, just more (too much) complicated.
The movie has some very fun and original moments in the story, even though the movie is a bit too similar to "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" at times. Which is also the main reason why I still regard "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" as a better movie. It came first and therefor it's more original and refreshing. Basically "Snatch." is just more of the same. Not that more of the same is a bad thing in this case but it's just of course not as refreshing and original as with "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" was the case.
If you like a well constructed movie with a solid and complex story told from multiple points of views this is a sort of movie that you'll love. Also highly recommendable if you liked "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", of course. I don't mind seeing more movies like this being made.
9/10
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