Snatch Review

Diamond thief Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) must deliver a huge rock to his boss Avi (Dennis Farina) in New York via London. Franky’s delivery is botched of course when he’s asked to place a bet on an illegal boxing match in London by Boris the Blade (Rade Serbedzija). To add to the mayhem enter local jewelers Vinny (Robbie Gee) and Sol (Lennie James) and their plump getaway driver Tyrone (Ade); novice unlicensed boxing promoters Turkish (Jason Statham) and Tommy (Stephen Graham); ruthless boxing promoter and pig farm owner Brick Top (Alan Ford); an unreliable and unintelligible gypsy boxer (Brad Pitt); a squeaking dog (really) and other uniquely Ritchie characters.
This year is shaping up to be another great year for Del Toro. After his mesmerizing turn in Traffic that is certain to land him his first Oscar nomination he commands attention when he’s onscreen in Snatch. Unfortunately he’s only onscreen for the first third of the film. Nonetheless there isn’t a weak link in the cast. Particular standouts include a much tattooed and ripped Pitt who speaks in hilarious gibberish the dimwitted Graham who provides comic relief and old fart Ford one mean son of a bitch who creates tension whenever he’s around.
Ritchie strives to be an original talent and although comparisons of Snatch to Pulp Fiction might be inevitable he certainly has created his own sense of directorial style. Snatch mixes it up with lightning-fast editing (Avi has his passport stamped his drink polished off and his flight from New York to London completed in a matter of seconds) great music and plot twists and turns (the boxing matches the pig farm the gypsy camp car chases the pawn shop … how do they all intersect?). And the scene of the final boxing match with Pitt is ahem a knockout.