I tried, really, I tried to hate Brad Pitt. Why shouldn't I? Twice he was voted People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive, every woman on earth wants him, and when he decided to settle down and get married, it was to the oh so hot Jennifer Aniston. The thing is, despite my petty jealousy, the guy has lotsa talent. Also, he comes off like a pretty cool guy in interviews, and when he does audio commentary on DVDs. And then there's the fact that he's a pretty boy who does what he can to be ugly on camera. Watch him in "Kalifornia," or "12 Monkeys," or now, in "Snatch." Strangely enough, the more unusual his character is, and the uglier he gets for the role, the better his performance is. It's uncanny. Then there's the fact that he's been in some great movies. Aside from the ones I mentioned already, let's not forget "Seven," "Fight Club," and "Interview with the Vampire."
Brad Pitt is the best thing in "Snatch." Every moment that he's on the screen is electrifying. He takes over each scene easily, and it looks like he's having a blast doing it. The problem is that the movie itself isn't all that great. I mean, it isn't awful, but it isn't anything to write home about.
This is Guy Richie's second movie as writer and director. His first was "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," which I never saw. From what I hear, it's very good, but "Snatch" is supposedly a carbon copy of it. I dunno, the first seems like yet another "Pulp Fiction" rip-off, and I assure you that this second one is. As a writer, I'm not sure I like Richie's style. There's a lotta twists and turns, and it gets very complicated, and I don't like having to sit through a plot that's difficult to follow. I mean, there are some really good moments in the movie, and some of the dialogue is very funny, but Richie's strength lies in his directing. He's a fantastic director, and I'd like to see him direct something other than a script he wrote.
I won't lie, part of the problem may be that I could barely understand what the characters were talking about. The accents were very thick, and it was often difficult to figure out what the hell they were saying. However, Brad Pitt's character has an accent that's purposely too thick to understand, and that's one of the funniest things in the movie. Perhaps it's Richie's little joke to all of us Americans who bitch about the thick accents that his characters have.
Walking into this movie, there were some actors I knew of, and some I didn't. The ones I didn't really know that well were Vinnie Jones as "Bullet Tooth Tony," Jason Statham as "Turkish," and Alan Ford as "Brick Top." All three of them were in Guy Richie's first film, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," and they're very good here. Of the three, the only one that I know of even slightly is Vinnie Jones, who I vaguely remember as being really good in "Gone in 60 Seconds." As it turns out, he used to be a pro soccer player, and was sorta considered one of the bad boys. Then there are the three names that I recognize, Benicio Del Toro as "Franky Four Fingers," Dennis Farina as "Avi," and of course, Brad Pitt as "Mickey O'Neil." Benicio Del Toro is pretty good, but I expected better out of him. Maybe it's 'cause he was so amazing in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," and most recently, in "Traffic," so anything less than excellent outta him is a disappointment. Also, his accent in this movie is kinda weird. Dennis Farina is good, but he plays the same kinda guy he always seems to play. As for Brad Pitt, well, as I said earlier, he's the best thing in the movie.
Guy Richie
definitely has talent, but I think it lies more in directing than writing.
I could be wrong, though. Maybe if I watched the DVD with English subtitles,
I'd like it more. Also, where were the women in the movie? Every movie should
have at least one hottie sitting around somewhere, but there was none to
be found in this movie. That makes "Snatch" a rather deceptive
title, don'tcha think? Okay fine, I'm a sexist pig. Whatever.
Scale
of 1-10: 5