Snatch (2000)

Written and Directed by Guy Ritchie

Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Stephen Graham, Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Farina, Alan Ford, Vinnie Jones, Lennie James, Rade Serbedgia,

In Guy Ritchie’s follow up to Lock Stock, there is another look into the criminal underworld of London. the lives of different groups are fused together in world of illegal boxing, and an 84 carat diamond.

The characters are all extremely well written, from the incredibly likeable (Turkish and Tommy) to the incredibly frightening (Brick Top). Ritchie writes these character types very well, and this film genre is his strongest work.

The cast is extremely strong, with returning Statham and Jones here in primary roles again. New cast members include American based actors such as Del Tor (albeit he is from Puerto Rico originally), the late great Farina, and Pitt as the scene stealing Mickey – who even the characters can’t understand.

The plot is also a lot of fun, and relatively easy to follow, with the characters overlapping in their respective story lines.

At a tight 98 minutes, the pacing is very well done – if anything it is a little too tight, and could have used extra time, especially on some of the more fun characters like Frankie and Tony. However, the age old saying – less is more.

There is a pretty fun score, paired with a great soundtrack. One particularly memorable song choice was during the ‘burning caravan’ scene, in which Massive Attack’s ‘Angel’ is playing. It is a hauntingly appropriate choice.

There are some fun camera angles, where the camera pans across items in an ultra close up – but they do feel a little repetitive after a while.

I still enjoyed this as much in 2023 as I did as when I watched it on its release in 2000.

4/5