Snatch gets away with murder

Alexander Linklater10 April 2012

It could have been a case of geezer chic, RIP. The British gangster flick, re-invented two years ago by Geezer No1, Guy Ritchie, and aped by loads of lesser geezers in the film industry, was all set to be murdered this week by Ritchie's gangland sequel to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Rumour was out that the new movie is an 'orrible mess: ridiculous plot, ludicrous racial caricatures, unspeakable means of corpse disposal. A wittily violent genre initiated by Ritchie was on the brink of ending in bloody farce with the release of Snatch.

Given special public screenings in selected London cinemas yesterday, Snatch had the chance to spread positive word of mouth before British critics get to hack the film to pieces later in the week. At a sell out screening in the ABC Tottenham Court Road last night, the audience laughter which accompanied varied scenes of human mutilation and bare-knuckle battery was starkly contrasted by the reaction to animals. An illegal dogfight received a plaintive "aah" and the starring role played by a pitbull, which eventually swallows the central diamond, got a cheer as it evaded human gunfire.

"The dogs look cute," said Suha Aladhub, 20, of Great Ormond Street. "Vinnie Jones was brilliant, he just has that 'I'm a bad guy, don't mess with me' thing." "It's so funny. There's so much violence, but you don't realise it because it's so hammed up," said Alison Bolton, 18, from Darlington. "Really good. Like Lock Stock, but a little harder to predict," said Alex Reid, 23, of Walthamstow. But Maggie O'Farrell, of Kentish Town, was a rare dissenting voice: "I was quite shocked. I think it's racist." Kenneth Gullie, 19, of Glasgow, said: "Much better than Lock, Stock. It's very well stylised."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in