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Usually it might seem a tad unfair to begin a review by referring to the director's missis. But then the missis in question wouldn't usually be Madonna--a woman whose ability to reinvent herself several times before breakfast seems in marked contrast to that of hubby Guy Ritchie. Certainly, this follow-up to the filmmaker's breakthrough film--the high-energy, expletive-strewn cockney-gangster movieLock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels--hardly breaks new ground being, well,anotherhigh-energy, expletive-strewn cockney-gangster movie. OK, so there are some differences. This time around our low-rent hoodlums are battling over dodgy fights and stolen diamonds rather than dodgy card games and stolen drugs. There has been some minor reshuffling of the cast too, with Sting and Dexter Fletcher making way for the more bankable Benicio Del Toro and Brad Pitt, the latter pretty much stealing the whole shebang as an incomprehensible Irish gypsy. And, sure, people who really, really likedLock, Stock--or have the memory of a goldfish--will really, really like this. The suspicion lingers, however, that if the director doesn't do something very different next time around then his career may prove to be considerably shorter than that of his missis.--Clark Collis
Subtitles A Must To Really Enjoy This I would imagine viewers would either really love this movie or be totally turned off. It is presented in a different format for its time (since copied), has very odd and profane characters, accents that are difficult to understand, and tells an unpleasant story with some disgusting scenes.
So, why do I enjoy this film, being an old-fashioned so-and-so? Well, because I usually enjoy "stylish" film-making and dark humor and this has both in abundance. This is almost as stylish as it gets: fascinating visuals, odd camera angles and various tricks, sound effects, etc. Most of the characters in this bizarre crime film have colorful nicknames and most speak in a strong British accent. A gypsy, played by American Brad Pitt, is almost intelligible.
This is why I strongly recommend you use English subtitles while watching this film, at least for the first viewing, or you will totally lost. The DVD offers a feature I've never seen before: the option of using subtitles solely for Pitt's character. The filmmakers knew few people were going to understand Pitt's weird way of speaking. Anyway, I recommend the subtitles for everyone. It makes the film more enjoyable when you know what's going on, especially with the many slang terms used in here that have to be totally foreign to most viewers outside GB.
Something wacky is going on every few minutes in this film. The attitudes of the criminals are rough: these are low-life people in the underworld: extremely tough people with the toughest being "Bricktop" (Alan Ford) who likes to feed people to the pigs. There are a ton of f-words in here, too.
The disjointed story is not easy to follow and I found I needed several viewings to understand everything that was going on. The characters are so strange, so cartoon-like, that - combined with the unique visuals - it makes it a fascinating film to watch every time. Some of these actors were fairly unknown at the time of this release , at least here in the States, such as Jason Statham ("The Transporter") but we know them know. There is a good mix of young and old actors in here.
This is a guy's movie with the top dozen actors in this film all tough-talking, almost-crude men (plus a funny dog). It's so weird, I'll just end with the clich? that "this is not for all tastes" but if you enjoy dark humor and something totally different, you might want to give it a shot. Just remember to turn on the subtitles.
I am an American... I loved it!! This movie is a perfect combination of action and comedy. I never laugh out loud in movies but I do when I watch this. This is truly one of the most entertaining movies I have ever seen. All the deatils of the story are so strange that it is captivating. The cinematography is awesome and complements the clever plot. The chemestry amongst the cast is what makes this film great. Just watch it.One of the greatest British films in history As a 'Limey' i am blatantly going to be bias about this film, but it really is such a quality film it deserves all the good credit it receives. For not all British people live in huge mansions on their country estates and that a majority actually live in 'Sh*t holes'. I have a pikie camp site down my road and I have to say, for an american, Brad Pitt depicts the gypsy accent perfectly, though to all those who say you have to use subtitles to understand what Brad Pitt is saying, come to england and try actually talking to a pikie, you'll find it a lot harder without subtitles. To summarise, Guy Ritchie depicts Cockney London perfectly.
