Snatch (2000)

Snatch (2000)

Snatch (stylised as snatch.) is a 2000 crime comedy film written and directed by Guy Ritchie, featuring an ensemble cast. Set in the London criminal underworld, the film contains two intertwined plots: one dealing with the search for a stolen diamond, the other with a small-time boxing promoter (Jason Statham) who finds himself under the thumb of a ruthless gangster (Alan Ford) who is ready and willing to have his subordinates carry out severe and sadistic acts of violence.

The film features an assortment of characters, including Irish Traveller Mickey O'Neil (Brad Pitt), or in this case, referred to as "pikeys", arms-dealer Boris "the Blade" Yurinov (Rade Šerbedžija), professional thief and gambling addict Franky "Four-Fingers" (Benicio del Toro), American gangster-jeweller Abraham Denovitz known as "Cousin Avi" (Dennis Farina), and bounty hunter Bullet-Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones). It is also distinguished by a kinetic direction and editing style, a circular plot featuring numerous ironic twists of chance and causality, and a fast pace.

The film shares themes, ideas and motifs with Ritchie's first film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. It is also filmed in the same visual style and features many of the same actors, including Jones, Statham, and Ford.

Storyline

Turkish and his close friend/accomplice Tommy get pulled into the world of match fixing by the notorious Brick Top. Things get complicated when the boxer they had lined up gets badly beaten by Pitt, a 'pikey' ( slang for an Irish Gypsy)- who comes into the equation after Turkish, an unlicensed boxing promoter wants to buy a caravan off the Irish Gypsies. They then try to convince Pitt not only to fight for them, but to lose for them too. Whilst all this is going on, a huge diamond heist takes place, and a fistful of motley characters enter the story, including 'Cousin Avi', 'Boris The Blade', 'Franky Four Fingers' and 'Bullet Tooth Tony'. Things go from bad to worse as it all becomes about the money, the guns, and the damned dog!

Plot

After stealing an 86-carat (17.2 g) diamond in a heist in Antwerp, Franky "Four-Fingers" goes to London to deliver it to diamond dealer Doug "The Head" on behalf of New York jeweller "Cousin Avi". One of the other robbers advises Franky to obtain a gun from ex-KGB agent Boris "The Blade". Unbeknownst to Franky, Boris and the robber are brothers and plan to steal the diamond from him before he can turn it over to Doug.

Meanwhile, boxing promoter and slot machine shop owner Turkish convinces gangster "Brick Top" to add the boxer "Gorgeous George" to the bets at Brick Top's bookies. However, when Turkish sends his partner Tommy and Gorgeous George to purchase a caravan from a group of Travellers, George gets into a fight with Mickey O'Neil, a bare-knuckle boxing champion who badly injures George. Turkish convinces Mickey to replace George in his upcoming match by agreeing to purchase a new caravan for Mickey's mother. Brick Top agrees to the change on the condition that Mickey throws the fight in the fourth round.

Boris gives Franky a revolver in exchange for a favour: Franky is to place a bet on Boris' behalf at Brick Top's bookies. Avi, knowing Franky has a gambling problem, flies to London with his bodyguard "Rosebud" to claim the diamond personally. Boris hires Vinny and Sol, two small-time crooks, to rob Franky while he is at the bookies. The robbery goes awry and Sol, Vinny, and their driver Tyrone are caught on-camera, but manage to kidnap Franky.

Instead of throwing the fight, Mickey knocks his opponent out with a single punch. Infuriated, Brick Top robs Turkish of his savings and demands that Mickey fight again, and lose this time. Meanwhile, Boris retrieves the diamond and murders Franky with a pistol. As Sol, Vinny, Tyrone, and their friend, Yardie "Bad Boy" Lincoln are trying to decide how to dispose of Franky's body, Brick Top arrives to kill them for robbing his bookies. Sol bargains for their lives by promising Brick Top the stolen diamond, and is given 48 hours to retrieve it.

Avi and Doug hire "Bullet-Tooth" Tony to help them find Franky. When the trail leads to Boris, they kidnap him and retrieve the diamond, closely pursued by Sol, Vinny, and Tyrone. Coincidentally Turkish and Tommy are driving on the same stretch of road at the time. When Tommy throws Turkish's carton of milk out of their car window; it splashes over Tony's windscreen, causing him to crash and killing Rosebud in the process. Boris escapes from the wreck only to be hit by Tyrone's car. Tony and Avi are confronted by Sol, Vinny, and Tyrone at a pub where Tony realizes that the trio's pistols are replicas, which he contrasts with his real handgun and intimidates them into leaving. The wounded Boris arrives with an assault rifle with a grenade launcher looking for the diamond back but is shot and killed by Tony. Sol and Vinny escape with the diamond, which Vinny hides in his pants. When Tony catches up to them, they tell him that the diamond is back at their pawn shop. Once there, they produce the diamond, but it is promptly swallowed by a dog that Vinny got from the travelers. Avi fires at the fleeing dog and accidentally kills Tony. He gives up and returns to New York.

Mickey refuses to fight again unless Turkish buys a better caravan for his mother, but Turkish has no money left since Brick Top stole his savings. Furious, Brick Top has his men vandalize Turkish's gambling arcade and burn down Mickey's mother's caravan while she is asleep inside. Mickey agrees to fight to avoid more carnage, but gets so drunk after his mother's wake that Turkish fears he will not make it to the fourth round. If he fails to go down as agreed, Brick Top's men will execute Turkish, Tommy, Mickey, and the entire campsite of travelers. Mickey makes it to the fourth round, when he suddenly knocks out his opponent. Outside the arena, Brick Top and his men are killed by the travelers. Mickey has bet on himself to win, and waited until the fourth round to allow the travelers time to ambush and kill Brick Top's men at the campsite.

The next morning, Turkish and Tommy find the travelers campsite deserted. When confronted by the police, they cannot explain why they are there, until Vinny's dog suddenly arrives and they claim to be walking it. Sol and Vinny are arrested when the police find Franky and Tony's bodies in their car. Turkish and Tommy take the dog to a veterinarian to extract a squeaky toy that it had swallowed, and discover the diamond in its stomach, as well. They consult Doug about selling the diamond and he calls Avi, who returns to London.

Cast

• Jason Statham as Turkish, promoter for unlicensed, no-gloves boxing
• Stephen Graham as Tommy, Turkish's business partner
• Brad Pitt as Mickey O'Neil, Irish traveler boxer and trader in caravans
• Alan Ford as Brick Top, sadistic crime boss
• Robbie Gee as Vinny, small-time pawn shop owner
• Lennie James as Sol, Vinny's partner
• Ade as Tyrone, Sol and Vinny's getaway driver
• Dennis Farina as Abraham "Cousin Avi" Denovitz, American jewel dealer who arranges a diamond heist in Antwerp
• Rade Šerbedžija as Boris "The Blade" Yurinov aka Boris the Bullet Dodger, ex-KGB Uzbek criminal
• Vinnie Jones as Bullet Tooth Tony, debt collector and gun-for-hire
• Adam Fogerty as Gorgeous George, unlicensed boxer in Turkish's camp
• Mike Reid as Doug The Head, jewel dealer running a diamond shop
• Benicio del Toro as Franky "Four-Fingers", jewel robber and gambling addict
• Sorcha Cusack as Mrs O'Neil, Mickey's mother
• Jason Flemyng as Darren, Mickey's traveler friend
• Goldie as "Bad Boy" Lincoln, small-time gangster, Sol and Vinny's friend
• Velibor Topic as The Russian, Boris' brother who sends Frankie to buy a gun from the former
• Sam Douglas as Rosebud, Cousin Avi's bodyguard
• Ewen Bremner as Mullet, spiv and informant to Tony
• Andy Beckwith as Errol, Brick Top's enforcer
• Dave Legeno as John, Brick Top's enforcer
• Nicola and Teena Collins as Alex and Susi, Doug the Head's twin daughters

User Review

I was never really too keen on "Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels". All my friends constantly quoted it, raved and ranted, and then when "Snatch" came out, everyone made an even bigger deal of that. I watched Lock Stock, and though I did like it, it didn't really tickle my fancy. But Snatch, that's a completely different story all together.

When I saw Snatch at the cinemas, I was shocked to see a couple leave only fifteen minutes into the film. As they left, you could hear their intellectually deficient comments; "this movie is so boring". I couldn't believe it! I'd recommend this movie to ANYONE, The Pope even!

There are hundreds of thousands of reasons for anyone to see this movie; each word of the script being a reason.

Snatch is possibly one of THE best written movies I've seen. It's smart, witty, funny and has just the right touches of dark humour. With characters like Turkish, Mickey, Tommy, Brick Top, Bullet Tooth Tony and Cousin Avi; their witty repartee will have your personal quotes list full for months after watching it. The camera work and editing complement each other to keep the film's pace on its toes, much like the boxers at the center of the character's stories.

Jason Statham has some of THE best lines in the movie, constantly slamming anything even slightly intelligent his partner Tommy has to say. Brad Pitt turns out an excellent performance as the Irish-Gypsy-Pykie Mickey; his accent is hilarious.

Even though the story line is only a simple one (following a massive Diamond through England's criminal underworld), it is the connections each character has to the diamond and each other that really makes this film stand out from all the usual jewel-heist films.