Snatch
(2000)
What a misnomer! "Snatch" is all dick.
Writer/director Guy Ritchie's high
octane, high testosterone wham-bam thank you ma'am
film is stylish and cool and hip. It's full of action
and witty dialogue and unique characters. It's got
actors we love and actors we fall in love with. But
it doesn't have heart. It doesn't have soul. It's
just a slick visual nothing.
Ritchie's penile appendage swings throughout
a film which is basically made from the same formula
as his early chaeapie "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking
Barrels." Here the elusive McGuffin is a 48 cart diamond
(or is it 84 carat) instead of a gun. But guns, nonetheless,
figure prominently in Ritchie's film. Guns, the most
obvious of phallic symbols, squirm around the screen
here like freshly ejaculated sperm under a microscope.
That Ritchie, a Brit, is from a country supposedly
far less enamoured with guns than America, and yet
appears to be as fascinated with the objects of destruction
as any so-called red-blooded American schoolboy, is
truly what disturbs most about "Snatch." It's like
an evolutionary step in reverse, rather than progress.
This American cool that we have exported via films,
from Peckinpah to Scorsese to Coppola, has finally
caught up with us. America IS guns. And now a Brit
filmmaker is emulating and continuing the glorification
of the most troubling and disconcerting subject facing
America. It's upsetting.
It's important to note, however, that
Ritchie, while obsessed with guns and machismo, seems
less obsessed with blood, gore and the squibs that
create them. Often the result of the violence shown
on screen occurs off. Often the gangster thug wannabees
in the film shoot at and kill objects off screen so
that we rarely see blood or brains or the like on
screen. Often the mayhem of violent death is merely
implied.
Ritchie may emulate many here, but
somehow still makes the film his own. Stylisticly,
in addition to the aforementioned filmmakers, Ritchie
also seems to pay homage to/ steals from Darren Arrenofsky
and Danny Boyle. His film is so manic and compressed
that it often feels like a 2 hour preview trailer
rather than a film at all. The action that takes place
is so fierce and occurs at such a hyperspeed that
it is basically impossible to keep up with the plot.
Following a stolen diamond as it continually changes
hands, one forgets the course of the object through
the film's threadbare plot and by the film's resolution
actually forgets what the point of it all was anyway.
This is a disposable film, as forgetable and unimportant
as cotton candy or last week's #1 song.
The acting in the film is wonderful.
Comprised mainly of Brits who are unknown in America,
the cast also includes Brad Pitt, Benicio De Toro,
Ewen Bremner (of "Trainspotting" fame) and Dennis
Farina. Pitt is a secondary character but could really
easily be considered the star. He gets the majority
of fun (and laughs) in the film as well as having
ample opportunity to show off his delicious physique.
But it is a boxing match late in the film that solidifies
his beauty as a movie star and Ritchie's genius as
a director. This is, without a doubt, the most visual,
unique and realistic fist- fight to grace the screen
since the original "Rocky." Ritchie creates a vision
of being in the ring and then tweaks it for maximum
effect with, well, maximum effects. Using freeze frame,
camera movement and special effects, he captures the
feeling and the emotion of a fight. It is a beautiful
scene and makes that price of admission seem paltry.
"Snatch" is a thrill-ride at full throttle
that drenches the viewer in testosterone at every
turn. It only slows down when one has time to consider
Ritchie's preoccupation with guns and cinematic violence
and has time to contemplate how disturbing that truly
is.
Notes:
Also with Vinnie Jones, Rade Serbedzija,
Jason Statham, Mike Reid (of BBC's "Eastenders"),
Jason Flemyng, Ade and Goldie.
At times the film was known as "Diamonds"
and "Snatch'd."
Other films with one word, double entendre
titles: "Head," "Pecker" and the upcoming "Blow."
Ritchie is now married to Madonna.
Her song "Lucky Star" is used in the film.
The film was released in LA for an
Oscar qualifying run of one week in 2000 but did not
see wide release in the US until January 2001.
