Posted by Ben

Review by Ben Lauter

Watching the very funny Snatch on its well put-together, two-disc deluxe edition five years after the fact of its release is something of a bittersweet experience.  With Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and this, an even better follow-up, Guy Ritchie showed a lethal dose of promise as a writer and director at the turn of the decade.  The proof is in the casting.  Ritchie's films introduced filmgoers to a kickass gravelly-voiced tough guy, Jason Statham, and white-hot Hollywood actors Brad Pitt and Benicio Del Toro came on board for whatever Ritchie had in store after Lock, Stock, a debut loudly touted by Tom Cruise long before Oprah reaped the benefits of such exuberance.  Sure, Ritchie came at the tail end of an era of filmmakers that bit off Quentin Tarantino like the head of a kid's chocolate Santa on Christmas, but the English humor and unrepentant lowlife sensibilities of his films combined made for a fantastic spark of energy, nonetheless.

Maybe the recent success of Layer Cake, an assured directorial triumph by Ritchie’s producing partner Matthew Vaughn originally earmarked for Ritchie, is the reason for this new edition.  It’s certainly a reminder that the years since Snatch haven’t been so great for Ritchie’s film career.  He filmed the ridiculous Swept Away remake with then-bride Madonna, only to find himself slinking back to the crime genre with the long-shelved Revolver.  Aside from trumping Ritchie’s own output, Vaughn’s movie had the double distinction of landing him the Bryan Singer-less X3 gig (since abandoned and handed to Brett Ratner) and getting its Cake lead Daniel Craig the James Bond gig.  In Vaughn's favor, the genre has benefited by having time and distance apart from Pulp Fiction and its lesser knockoffs, but if anything, Layer Cake has revealed in its blunt seriousness how tied to an era Ritchie’s crisscrossed crime comedy stylings now seem in the absence of any sort of professional evolution. 

Still, even if it’s all one note, what a note!  It’s a blast of a movie, from start to finish, and the deluxe edition honors, fittingly, the moment when Ritchie was at his greatest.  Snatch is essentially a movie about a diamond heist.  Many were disappointed at the time with the lack of sexuality implied by the title.  Gasp!  In fact, there’s hardly a woman in the movie.  I digress.  The movie follows two divergent stories, all of which converge at one point or another.  An 86-carat diamond is stolen in Antwerp by a team, posing as Hasidic Jews, led by Franky Four Fingers (Del Toro), a thief with a predilection for gambling.  Once Franky arrives in London, there are lots of others who quickly decide they want this diamond for themselves.  Ex-KGB agent Boris the Blade (Rade Sherbedgia), for one, who employs two pawn shop workers named Sol and Vinny (Lennie James and Robbie Gee).  The others include an American named Cousin Avi (Dennis Farina) and his English jeweler cousin, Doug the Head (Mike Reid), who gets help from a steely henchman named Bullet Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones).  Sol and Vinny follow Boris’ lead to rob a bookie and pick up Franky, for reasons known only to Boris.  After they have botched the robbery, but manage to pick up Franky, they learn that Boris simply wants the diamond.  Thus sets off a series of madcap dashes by all sides to claim the gem.  While all this diamond business is going on, a duo comprised of Turkish (Jason Statham), a sometime boxing promoter of underground (read illegal) fights, and Tommy (Stephen Graham), his partner and a casino slot machine handler, have fallen in with Brick Top (Alan Ford), a twisted gangster with a penchant for taking boxing bets and feeding delinquents to the pigs. 

Before they can get a bout going with one of Brick Top’s boxer’s, Turkish and Tommy visit an Irish gypsy camp to buy a caravan with their fighter Gorgeous George (Adam Fogerty) in tow, and things get dicey after an Irish gypsy bare-knuckle boxer with an indecipherable accent, named Mickey (Pitt), knocks George out cold.  The two promoters decide to use Mickey as a replacement fighter, but Mickey goes against Brick Top’s orders to take a dive in the fourth round and wins, causing problems for Brick Top which in turn causes problems for Turkish and Tommy.  Brick Top inadvertently also gets himself into the diamond fray, when tracking down those responsible for hitting up the bookie storefront brings him into Sol and Vinny’s company.  As Mickey continues to knock out Brick Top’s fighters with just one punch, causing Brick Top headaches and Turkish and Tony a potential world of considerable pain, the diamond becomes the ultimate prize in a game of hot potato between everyone in the film and the movie dovetails together in some hilarious and bloody ways.  There's a lot going on, but the final payoffs are both funny and clever.

Video/Audio/Extras

The video is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with the sound in DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 and with subtitles in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai and Pikey (so you can understand what Pitt’s character is saying through a thick brogue).  The picture quality and sound effectively put the grey tones of London to full effect.  This is a good-looking and strong-sounding release.  Disc one features the film, actually in Superbit format, which isn’t mentioned on the case, but fails to include a director/producer commentary, which is listed on the case.  Disc two has the special features and contains six de;le;te;d scenes, two theatrical trailers (the U.S. and U.K. versions), a 25-minute documentary, “Making Snatch,” in which Jason Statham corrals Guy Ritchie for a game of chess and asks him about the movie, coupled with behind the scenes footage and Statham interviewing various members of the cast and crew.  Rounding out the disc are three U.S. TV spots, a video photo gallery, storyboard-to-screen comparisons for three sequences and se;le;cted filmographies.  The set also comes with a Snatch playing card set and dealer’s chip.  Pretty nice.

Final Words

This is a good two-disc set.  I’m not certain this all couldn’t have fit on one disc, but this looks to be an inexpensive collectible for the crime film (and Snatch) lover out there.  This is such a fine and inventively written and directed film, with standout performances by all, especially Pitt and Ford as Brick Top.  One can only hope Ritchie isn’t just doomed to wallow in the crime genre forever.  With any luck and moviegoers’ good fortune, he’ll leave the island-hopping to Lost, watch this film again and be reminded of the skills that captivated audiences in the first place.