Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels

Another movie review - this one was released in 1998 (still amazing 10 years later). For those who don’t know, the director Guy Ritchie also directed the latest Sherlock Holmes film, if that sparks your interest. Forget your convoluted-‘Inception’-plot syndrome. Forget your classic Pulp Fiction cross-cutting and juxtaposition. This pre-“Madonna” (before he married her) Guy Ritchie film is the British enigma of an ironic story. With over seven or eight different parties (the main group of protagonists, their theif-neighbors, a legend Harry the Hatchet, his debt collector, a group of stoner pot-growers, a Samoan drug boss, two idiot-goons, and two expensive smoking barrels), Guy Richie somehow manages to over-explicate dramatic irony as all we see the separate stories interweave and unfold. I can’t do the ridiculous story justice, nor would even a Wikipedia summary, so I won’t say anything more than that it’s a story about criminals taking risks and making chips. While the dialogue isn’t as fresh as say, Pulp Fiction, it is definitely there and very crispy. The characters are all very hip (this was before Jason Statham became lame), and their accents and use of the “F” word make this an enjoyable watch. Be careful not to get lost though, there are many characters and they all tie in together in some twisted coincidental irony. Go out and rent it. It’s bloody brilliant.

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