With lots of twists and turns in London's tough criminal underworld, this film features Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones, Benicio Del Toro and Dennis Farina.
After the success of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director Guy Ritchie came up with another hit film which featured many similar characters. Snatch contains two plots; one of them involves the theft of a valuable diamond and the other centres on two illegal boxing promoters who are in over their heads when dealing with an unhinged gangster named Brick Top (Alan Ford). Several non-British actors, Dennis Farina, Brad Pitt and Benicio Del Toro also made an appearance in the movie.
The Players
There's Franky Four Fingers, a professional thief and gambling addict (Benicio Del Toro). His boss in New York is diamond dealer Avi Denovitz or "Cousin Avi" played by veteran actor Dennis Farina. We were also introduced to some criminal heavies in London, most notably Brick Top (Alan Ford) and his henchmen. The late Mike Reid played Doug the Head, another diamond expert and a relative of Avi.
The two most prominent characters however are Turkish (Jason Statham) and his not too bright sidekick Tommy (Stephen Graham) as two unlicensed boxing promoters. Brad Pitt gives a hilarious performance as the fast talking, hard as nails gypsy Mickey O'Neil. Rounding out the cast are Vinnie Jones as the bounty hunter Bullet Tooth Tony, two jewellers Sol and Vinnie (Lennie James and Robbie Gee) and a Russian gun dealer who, according to Turkish, is almost impossible to kill named Boris the Blade/Boris the Bullet Dodger (Rade Serbedzija).
The events of the film cause the paths of all the characters to be linked in some way, either directly or indirectly.
The Story
In Antwerp Franky Four Fingers steals an 86 carat diamond, and promises Cousin Avi he'll be back in New York within two days with the stone. Avi sternly reminds him "to stay out of those casinos." Immediately images pop up with Franky gambling while surrounded with beautiful women. Later he buys a gun from Boris the Blade, who in return for the weapon asks him to place a bet with a bookmaker for a boxing match. Little does Franky know it's a setup.
Meanwhile......
Turkish wants a better office for his business. He sends Tommy to buy a caravan from a pikey campsite, and just to be safe, he takes their prized fighter Gorgeous George with him. It is here that Brad Pitt's incomprehensible boxer makes his first appearance. After the wheels fall off the caravan, Tommy confronts the dishonest gypsy and demands the money be returned. Instead, Mickey challenges the much larger George to a fight.
It doesn't go very well. The winner is none other than Mickey, who despite being bloodied and bruised knocks his opponent out with a single punch.
With their shot at the big time gone, Turkish and Tommy are then in a bit of trouble with Brick Top, who wanted to use the monstrous George in one of his fights. Now that he's unconscious and in a hospital, the amateur duo realize they might end up as food for a pack of hungry pigs, because that's how Brick Top disposes of anyone who upsets him. Turkish narrates "If you got to deal with him, (Brick Top) just make sure you don't end up owing him. Because then you're in his debt, which means you're in his pocket and once you're in that, you ain't ever gettin' out."
From here the two storylines weave together very nicely, taking the criminals who are amusing and menacing at the same time to an explosive conclusion.
There are no good guys here, everybody is mixed up in unlawful activities. Despite the violence and lack of sensitivity it's a fun movie to watch because it puts a big cheerful smile on the face of organized crime in London. You can't help but like and laugh at all of the characters involved.
If you don't like profanity, it's probably better to give this film a miss. The script included curse words in just about every other sentence from most of the actors.
