Snatch film review

certificate_18

SNATCH

The story goes something like this - Tea leaf Franky Four Fingers (Benicio del Toro) arrives in London to deliver a consignment of stolen gems to Doug "The Head" (Mike Reid), cousin of his New York underworld boss Avi (Dennis Farina) who is waiting to take possession of a huge sparkler stolen in a recent raid.

In the capital, Franky crosses paths with Boris "The Blade" (Rade Serbedzija), who is planning to half-inch the prize diamond for himself while Franky is at the bookies.

Unfortunately, Boris's accomplices make a pig's ear of the stick-up, and the rock ends up in the stomach of a deranged mutt. Meanwhile, would-be boxing promoters Turkish (Jason Statham) and Tommy (Stephen Graham) find themselves in a tight spot with local kingpin Bricktop (Alan Ford) in a forthcoming illegal boxing match when their fighter is accidentally knocked out by Irish gypsy Mickey O'Neill (Brad Pitt).

Unable to cancel the bout, the pair persuade Bricktop to allow them to enter Mickey in place of their injured man. Unfortunately, the deceptively powerful Irishman refuses to obey orders to "go down in the fourth", embarrassing Bricktop and his associates. Unafraid to use bloodshed and brutality to make his point, Bricktop exacts a terrible revenge on Mickey's family to stress the point that when he says go down in the fourth, he means it. He tells Turkish and Tommy that their man must fight again, and to play by the rules this time. Or else.

There's no denying director Guy Ritchie's acute visual flair, employing different film speeds and kinetic camera movements to energise the set pieces, most notably the pivotal illegal boxing match in which Mickey is pummelled to within an inch of his life in stomach-churning close-up.

Unfortunately, while the film is impeccably well-dressed, as soon as it opens its mouth, it falls flat on its face. The plot holds no surprises, dragging its heels badly in the middle by needlessly recounting the same car crash from three different perspectives.

Characters have little or no personality and don't connect with the audience. Tellingly, the most endearing figure in the film is a dog with a toy ball stuck in his stomach, who squeaks every time he barks.

Pitt turns in the film's only noteworthy performance as the Irish gypsy-turned-prize fighter whose accent is so thick, no-one can understand what he says (one of the film's increasingly tiresome running gags).