Blair Loveday
I have watched Snatch more times than I can remember, the iconic vibes, the iconic characters, and the excellent humour has made it one of the easiest annual rewatches.
Yet somehow I have only seen Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels a small handful of times even though it shares everything I love about Snatch. Well with the latest Blu-ray release, it is time to correct that error in judgment.
If you haven’t seen this iconic movie, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was the directorial debut for Guy Ritchie, and the film debut for Vinnie Jones and Jason Statham.
So you know, only three names of massive careers. Some amazing careers begin with a dud, but that isn’t even close when it comes to this movie. We really get to see the brilliance that is Guy Ritchie straight out of the gate.
The plot basically involves a few different plot lines that all centres around the London crime lord Harry Lonsdale. First we have a quartet of friends who are low time London criminals, they scrape together 100k so their friend can take part in one of Harry’s high stakes underground poker games. Unfortunately they don’t know the game is rigged and their expert poker player winds up with them owing 500k with a week to pay their debt.
Alongside this, Harry wants a bunch of antique guns that are going up for sale. Instead of using his absurd wealth to buy them, he gets one of his top henchmen to enlist some thieves to go steal them. They keep the thieves in the dark about the value of the guns, and they wind up with them not in their possession anymore.
An angry Harry kicks off the chaos to try getting the guns back.
Heaps more characters come into play, as the story lines smash together, and it’s just a violent chaotic spaghetti junction of a story. The plot itself is cleverly written and is a great ride to watch, but that is only half of what you are here for. The comedy is the best part of the show.
There is a lot of really dry humour that is as British as you can imagine. A few characters are silly, but the bulk are serious with the humour either being situational, or some dry British wit.
What really makes the movie an experience though is Guy Ritchies style. While a lot of this is now known and iconic, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels makes it clear that Guy Ritchie knew what he was doing from the start. From slow mo’s to freeze frames, to close angle shots. The whole movie oozes of style that can make it jump from feeling like an indie project to a blockbuster in a few frames.
The Bluray package comes with the theatrical version, the much better director’s cut and a bunch of special features. The film has clearly been upscaled from DVD, but it’s far from as clean and crisp visuals that you would expect from most Bluray releases.
To be honest, it adds to the dirt and grit of the movie, but it’s just worth being aware of going in.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is as good a movie today as it has ever been.
The comedy, the action, and the drama make this a must watch. I think I still like Snatch more, but if you haven’t checked this beauty out then you owe it to yourself to pick this Bluray up.
