Some movies bring you up to a higher level of understanding. Some movies touch your soul with the depth of their characters, ideas, or visual acrobatics. And some movies make you think really hard and examine yourself in a way you didn’t before. Snatch falls into none of these categories; it just makes you laugh.Here’s the condition, though: it can’t make everyone laugh. There are some folks who will find the particular brand of comedy in Snatch to be completely unappealing. To really appreciate it, you need to forget all of your morals, hang-ups, and sensitivities for two hours. Make no mistake; Snatch doesn’t have a single redeeming character in it. That’s not the point. The point is simply to entertain you through presenting a wide array of characters that are so ridiculous, so over-the-top, and so not like real people that you can only laugh at their antics. And once you realize that fact, I think you’ll find that this is one of the funniest movies ever.
The plot of Snatch centers around two simultaneous stories. The first is of a stolen 86-karet diamond, and all the people trying to get their hands on it. The second is of an unlicensed boxing promoter (and his partner) and his debt to an unscrupulous gangster. The fact that it’s a British film, and that all the major characters in it are British (save two, an American and an Uzbekistani), really adds to the other-worldly-ness and catharsis of the comedy.
The plot is started rolling by Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro), when he holds up a Jewish precious stone storehouse and steals a diamond the size of a fist. A Russian named Boris the Blade (aka Boris the Bullet Dodger) recruits Vinny and Sol, two black jewelers, to steal the diamond for him. They prove to be blazingly incompetent, but through sheer luck, they end up with the diamond. At the same time, the American whom Franky stole the diamond for, Cousin Avi (Dennis Farina), comes to London to get the diamond from Franky, who doesn’t have it because Vinny and Sol stole it, who in turn gave it to Boris. Avi hires Bullet-Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) to track down Boris. Add to this a dog that likes to swallow non-edible objects and the fun just never stops. When Avi comes back to the states and a customs officer asks him if he has anything to declare, he responds, “yeah, don’t go to
The other involves boxing promoter\penny arcade manager Turkish (Jason Statham), who has a fight coming up for boxing manager and gangster Brick Top (Alan Ford). Brick Top is not burdened by any type of morality, feeds men he has killed to pigs, and gets his jollies off of torturing dogs (in Britain, the only man worse than a pedophile is one who tortures dogs). Turkish sends his partner Tommy to buy a caravan (trailer mobile home) for him off a fast-talking gypsy named Mickey (Brad Pitt). Mickey cheats him, then offers to settle the debt by fighting with Gorgeous George (the man Tommy brought with him to see Mickey, and the boxer in Turkish’s upcoming fight). To Tommy’s surprise and dismay, Gorgeous George loses (and is hospitalized). Turkish decides to solve his dilemma of having lost Gorgeous by replacing him with Mickey, and agrees to buy Mickey’s mother a caravan if he will do the fight. Brick Top reluctantly agrees, but insists Mickey take a fall in the fourth round. Mickey, however, knocks his opponent out in the first round, screwing Brick Top. Deciding he wants to use Mickey again in the fight that will make back the money he lost, Brick Top motivates Mickey through dastardly means, but Mickey screws him again, and has a surprise in store for him. Turkish and Tommy are caught in the middle of all this, and through ridiculous circumstance, receive a windfall at the very end of the movie. If you’re still not confused, I’m very impressed. And don’t worry; the stories are connected in various places.
The acting is pretty good, but the focus is not on the acting. Standing out is Brad Pitt. He’s the most famous face in Snatch, but he doesn’t have the spotlight at all. His performance is insanely good, especially his accent-work (hint: I don’t mean British). The cinematography is pretty stylish and sharp, and the dialogue is among the smartest and most quick-witted out there. And if you have even a hint of Anglophile in you, this movie will send you into a sputtering incoherence of joy.
Obviously, Snatch is about very bad people and what happens to them. In an existential twist, what happens to them isn’t ruled by any over-riding morality, but instead by random chance. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, and sometimes it’s neither. The fact that the people involved in the story are people we don’t care about at all is one of the strengths of the movie, actually. Things come at them from left field, and some of them are deliciously goofy and unbelievable. Some results are bad, yes, but the characters never really get their comeuppance (except the ones who die). That fact can be viewed as tragic and unjust from one point of view, or hysterical from another. Personally, I choose the latter, and to really appreciate this movie, I think you have to.
Brick Top: “You’re gonna have to repeat that.”
Turkish: “We’ve lost Gorgeous George.”
Brick Top: “Well, where’d you lose him? It’s not like he’s a set of f***ing car keys.”
Particle Man
13 comments:
Hmmm...
I don't think I would like this movie, but I'm glad at least to know why. :)
Are there any characters the audience can get behind? Or is it complete ridiculosity?
No, you can get behind the characters
for the most part. And it stars Jason
Statham. Jaaaaaaasssooonnnn Sssstttaaattthhhaaammm..........
not really. you can kinda get behind Mickey at one point, or at least sympathize with him, but it's only for about two scenes.
Is the lack of character identification a worthwhile excuse as far as justifying your avoidance of a very entertaining film that is also fairly unique (if you ignore "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" which is essentially the same film on a lower budget)?
i think it's permissable. this isn't a movie like Lord of the Rings, where if you haven't seen it, you'll explode into a giant fireball of ignorance and die. i totally understand that Snatch will just not be some people's cup o' tea.
Wait, you don't think that at least Turkish is a sympathetic character? He's the main point of sympathy in th e film. I think Avi is pretty sympathetic as well.
not really, no. Turkish's demeanor kind of says, "i've got this, don't worry about me." even when he thinks he's gonna die, he's not that bothered by it. it's true that Avi is incredibly down on his luck, but that made me laugh at him rather than feel sympathy for him.
I didn't see it that way at all: I see Turkish as just a guy, trying to do his thing: manage underground boxers. He has to keep his cool when dealing with the likes of Brick Top, or else he would be wormfood.
But man, I must have seen Snatch 4 or 5 times when it was out in theaters. I love, love that film.
I'm not sure why, but I tend to not enjoy films or shows in which I can't identify with or support at least one character. Like Seinfeld...
I think that PM's pretty off base here......there are sympathetic/identifiable characters in Snatch, maybe just not to him.
i suppose one can find identification with just about anything; it all depends on how hard you want to work. but i find miles of enjoyment with Snatch without doing any of that work at all. and there's an argument that watching a movie like this shouldn't be any work. but hey, YRF found sympathy with more than one character in Snatch, so it's possible that you will too, WLC.
Hold the phone - how can you not enjoy Seinfeld? How can you not identify with George Costanza, for a start (case in point - shrinkage)?
uuuuummmm,hold th phone again, Moshe. how can you expect WLC to identify with George's shrinkage when she's a woman? after all, before Seinfeld educated them, women thought it was something to do with laundry. :-)
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