Reviews
— Do you like doggies?
Doggies? Doggies. Do you like doggies? Snatch
On a certain level, Snatch can be considered a big-budget sequel to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The title and features have changed, of course, but the structure is the most obvious similarity to the debut work. Like Robert Rodriguez with his transformation from 'The Music Man' to 'Desperado,' Ritchie used the extra funding to cast some big-name actors and make the final product more polished, but his overall approach didn't change. The story follows the post-Tarantino formula - intersecting storylines, violence, dark comedy. The Keystone is a group of thugs, low-level gangsters and various undesirables. The narrator is Turetsky, a boxing promoter who is reluctantly drawn into a story that is replete with crazy guys, including Tommy, 'Brick', 'Four Fingers' and Boris 'Razor', for example. To further complicate matters, we are introduced to boxer Mickey O'Neal. Much of the fun is watching how (and sometimes why) all these characters interact, and seeing what happens when things don't go as planned. Raucous and rough, but not boring or predictable. He's bold, brash and cartoonish, and doesn't take himself seriously. In the interview, Richie again claimed that he was not influenced by Tarantino. Like Quentin, and unlike some of his imitators, Guy synthesized clever influences into an entertaining, distinctive whole, rather than simply stealing one director's most obvious stylistic and narrative techniques. The truth is that many who love 'Reservoir Dogs' will appreciate 'Snatch'. Like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, this movie performs equally well as a brutal comedy and a testosterone action movie. But 'Snatch' finds humor in all sorts of grotesque situations, and some viewers will likely be disconcerted to realize that they're laughing at such material. The film is filled with unconventional plot elements, including a dog that makes strange noises, a briefcase attached to a severed hand, and a unique form of pig feed. The dialogue often includes amusing asides, such as a long discourse about a peculiar way of disposing of bodies. In one scene, Richie's then-girlfriend (now ex-wife), Madonna, can be heard on the car radio. The picture connects two main storylines. None of these have any moral, spiritual, emotional or other philosophical significance; instead, the film is only concerned with the internal aspects of a violent, corrupt and complex world. The tone, it must be said, is reflected in a haphazard and very kinetic rhythm. Not all directors can succeed in this style, and Guy seemed to be trying to prove that he was an exception to this rule. While its narrative is not impossible, it is moderately complex for several reasons: the sometimes entertaining accents, the multitude of main characters, the varied motifs that connect history and destinies, and the highly charged and unorthodox visual style. This movie seems like the epitome of a film that is destined to collapse under its own weight and a confusing collection of elements, but the director handles the entire spectrum of banal cinematic language, combining it with dark and violent elements that are the dirtiest criminal acts in England. The picture benefits greatly from its collection of talent found on both sides of the camera. The organic ensemble that gives the film its own life, complemented by a frantic and loud soundtrack that literally injects extra energy. The plot simply performs a couple of acrobatic flips in its determination to entertain you. The film boasts several more Western influences than its debut, which apparently give it a transatlantic appeal that the first film lacked. And there is no doubt that the presence of Brad Pitt and Benicio Del Toro contributed to the film's success overseas. Pitt, in particular, gives a memorable performance. What do you do if an actor like Brad Pitt, who is a fan of your debut film, comes up to you and says he wants to act with you, but he can't develop a British accent? Well, if you're Guy Ritchie, you give him the role of a quirky gypsy that no one in the movie can understand at all. And yet, we see mostly British actors. Statham exudes the inimitable cool on which he has built a solid career in action films. Vinnie Jones gives perhaps one of his best screen performances. Alan Ford is frighteningly convincing, an uncompromisingly vicious but cunningly fascinating nightmare. Guy Ritchie managed to pull off something much more outrageous than Madonna's bra. Yes, whatever one may say, we have different characters and situations, but 'Snatch' looks like a continuation of 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'. Richie takes what he's already done and then shows what he can do with it on a bigger budget.
Cool facts about Guy Ritchie's Snatch
Tony “Bullet in the Teeth”, Brick, Four-Fingered Frankie, Turk and all, all, all.
Where did this Briton get so many amazing characters, so many great jokes, so many mind-blowing and idiotic, and at the same time, completely natural situations? Do you want to see Brad Pitt not as a sugary dude, but as a gypsy himself, even whose appearance speaks of excessive cunning? Year: 2000 Country: UK, USA
Director: Guy Ritchie
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Budget: $10,000,000
US box office: $30,328,156
Worldwide box office: + $53,229,716 = $83,557,872 • Due to the small budget, the producers could not afford to recruit the necessary extras for the boxing match scene. Every time the camera changed angles, the extras had to move in order to create the effect of a huge crowd present at the match. • Guy Ritchie is rumored to have paid $1 million to use Madonna's song "Lucky Star". • In one scene, Boris the Razor takes a butcher knife from under his jacket. Soap did the same thing in the film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998).
• Brad Pitt is a big fan of the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Having met with Guy Ritchie, Brad asked him for a role in the next film. Pitt was cast in the role of Mickey Gypsy after it was discovered that he could not reliably imitate a London accent.
• Ed, who played Tyrone, came to the set of the film looking for a job as a security guard. After Guy Ritchie saw him, he immediately offered him the role of Tyrone.
• Brad Pitt is a big fan of the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Having met with Guy Ritchie, Brad asked him for a role in the next film. Pitt was cast in the role of Mickey Gypsy after it was discovered that he could not reliably imitate a London accent.
• Ed, who played Tyrone, came to the set of the film looking for a job as a security guard. After Guy Ritchie saw him, he immediately offered him the role of Tyrone.
• After the release of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), many critics said that the pronounced London accent made it very difficult to understand what the characters were saying. In Snatch, Guy Ritchie deliberately made Mickey's speech extremely unintelligible, thereby making fun of numerous critics: what Mickey says, neither the other characters in the film, nor the audience, nor the critics can understand.
• Almost all of the idiotic situations that Saul, Vincent and Tyrone find themselves in are based on real events: Guy Ritchie borrowed them from TV documentaries about the most ridiculous crimes. • Guy Ritchie can be seen in the bar when Dug Head refuses to buy the gems: the man reading the newspaper in the corner of the bar is Guy Ritchie.
Tim Maurice-Jones (cinematographer) plays the man who is hit repeatedly in the head by Frankie Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) in a robbery scene. In the film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), where Tim was also a cinematographer, he played a man who is drowned by Barry the Baptist (Leni McLean) at the very beginning of the film. • In Guy Ritchie's previous film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), there is a conversation scene between Harry, Barry and Chris. Barry says: “No, Harry, you can’t,” after which Chris repeats this phrase, and then Chris and Barry repeat it together. A similar joke is contained in "Snatch", when Alex and Susie, first separately and then together, repeat the phrase "yes, dad, you told us." • In the USA they wanted to change the name of the film to “Snatched” or “Snatch`d”. • The word “fuck” is said 153 times during the film.
• During the opening credits, the robbers discuss the Virgin Mary. This episode is very similar to the opening scene from the movie Reservoir Dogs (1991), which was about Madonna's song "Like a Virgin". • During a phone conversation between Frankie - Four Fingers and Cousin Avi, Frankie changes into four different costumes. • Mully tells Tony that the bookmaker was robbed by Vinny and Sol, who have a pawn shop on Smith Street. This street is located in Chelsea, a luxurious area of London. • The film's title is mentioned only once, when Vinnie, holding out a squeaky toy to the dog, says, "Don't grab it!" (Don`t Snatch!).
• When they were filming the scene in which Vinnie and Saul are sitting in a car near the Brick bookmaker's office, and Tony approaches them with a bullet in his teeth, Vinnie Jones was absent from the set, because at that very time he was sitting in the police station because of... for the fight he started the night before filming. • The literal translation of the original title is “Robbery.” • The UK version of the film is 104 minutes long and the US version is 102 minutes long.
• The following episodes were removed from the film: • In the scene where, in the back room of a pawn shop, Benicio Del Toro's hero, Frankie Four Fingers, sits with a teapot cover on his head, they allow him to take it off so that he can open the case. He manages to briefly fool three black bandits by taking a pistol from his case instead of a diamond. He falls along with the chair to which he was handcuffed and drops his gun. • The episode where Bullet Tonny (Vinnie Jones) urinates on Erol while Cousin Avi yells at Erol's boss, Brick, about being given a fake instead of a real diamond. • When Mickey talks to Turkey about a new campervan for his mother, he specifically emphasizes that the trailer should be baby blue. In Psycho (1960), we learn that Norman Bates helped select a dress of the same color for his dead mother. Mickey, like Norman, is also, albeit indirectly, responsible for his mother's death. • In the scene where Boris the Razor is killed, Tony fires 8 shots from the Deset Eagle through the wall, after which the cartridges run out. This is understandable based on the fact that he changes the clip. Subsequently, he again fires 8 shots and on the ninth, again, there is not enough ammunition. However, later, in the scene with the dog, Avi, using Tony's pistol, calmly manages to shoot it as many as 12 times without reloading.
Some quotes from the film: • Turk: We need a decent office. I want a new trailer, Tommy, and you can buy it for me. Tommy: Why me? Turk: You know about trailers. Tommy: What makes you think? Turk: You spent the summer in a trailer. • Turk: No, Tommy, you have a gun in your pants, what is it doing there? Tommy: It's for protection! Turk: From whom, from the Germans? Aren't you afraid of shooting off your balls when you sit down? • (“Cousin Evie”) - Where? - In London. - In London? - In London! - In London?! - YES!!! In London! Well, fish, chips, tea, crappy food, even worse weather, Mary, fuck her, Poppins!.. London!
• Mrs. O'Neill: Would you like something to drink? Tommy: I'm dying of thirst! Mrs. O'Neill: Let me remind you that no one dies here. • Mrs. O'Neill: Isn't the big guy coming with us? Tommy: He's guarding the car. Mrs. O'Neill: Does he think we're thieves? Tommy: No, Mrs. O'Neill, he likes to keep an eye on cars. • Mickey: Do you like doggies? Tommy: Dogs? Mickey: Yes. Mrs. O'Neill: Yes, doggies. Mickey: Do you like dogs? Tommy: Ahh, dogs. Of course I love dogs, but I love trailers more. • Tyrone: This dog is slobbering all over my seats. Vinny: Your seats?? Tyrone! It's a stolen car! Tyrone: As long as I'm driving, it's my car. So let him stop slobbering on my seats, okay?
• Turk: Why the hell did you put Gorgeous George in a bare-knuckle match two days before his match with Bomber? Tommy: That guy's half his weight, I didn't think he'd knock him out. Turkish: You put him in the match without gloves. What did you expect, that it would be a light massage?! • Turk: Two hunting dogs are released after a rabbit, and the rabbit must run away from them. Quickly, quickly. Tommy: What if he doesn't run away? Turk: Then the rabbit will be fucked. Tommy: For real?? Turk: Yes Tommy...until the Germans came. • They say that Russians are very dangerous, but this one is absolutely crazy in every way.
