Snatch - Rewind Mini Review ~ LightsRemoteAction

Released 10 years ago today...

Original Release Date: December 8th, 2000

Any true movie lover knows this film backwards and forwards. Even casual movie goers at least know of it as the movie they can't understand a single thing Brad Pitt says. When it originally released it came out during a time when we were knee deep in Pulp Fiction copy cats and at first glance that is exactly what this looked like. You have a huge sprawling cast with interconnecting stories, outlandish characters, impossible but hilarious situations and all of it told with a sly bit of wit by a director that would disappear from cinemas for the next decade. Snatch defied all expectations and instead of being remembered as a Pulp wannabe it is now seen as a standard bearer in the heist/con movie sub genre. Many films have tried and failed to duplicate what was done here and even the original creator of it couldn't recapture the lightning in a bottle he forged all those years ago.

The plot threads of Snatch is a tangled bunch involving such colorful characters named Brick Top, Gorgeous George, Turkish, Boris the Blade, and Bullet Tooth Tony. The main story is broken up into two sections, one focusing on an elusive diamond stolen by Frankie Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) being hunted down by all manner of thugs and the other section we follow Turkish (Jason Statham) as he tries to put together a prize fight with one the biggest kingpins in town. As Turkish runs into problem after problem setting up the fight and fearing for his life at every turn, the hunt for the diamond also hits a few snags along the way. Eventually characters from both stories cross paths and then things really get complicated...and hilarious.

Snatch has stood the test of time largely due to the fantastic ensemble cast that Guy Ritchie put together here. You get to see Statham before he became the Transporter and turned into an action superstar, Brad Pitt in probably his best comedic role to this day as the Gypsy/Pikey boxer Mickey whom rattles out his dialogue in such a way that you can't help but bust up laughing at the fact that you can't understand a word he says. And such great character actors like Dennis Farina, Vinnie Jones, and Rade Serbedzija in roles that I can't help but associate each one with every time I see them in something. You also get one of the best movie soundtrack implementations I have ever seen where the music isn't exactly the best to just listen to on its own but every piece used fits each scene perfectly. Not that this movie needs any endorsement from me but it definitely needs to be remembered more often and if you haven't seen it in a while then by all means throw it into your dvd/bluray player for another spin to help remind yourself how awesome the movie still is and why you like "dags" so much.