Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

One of the films I was suggested when I reviewed Guy Ritchie's Snatch was the director's first feature film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I was told it shared a lot of similarities with the aforementioned and, knowing nothing other than that, almost a year later I gave it a shot. And right now I'm regretting not watching it earlier because it is an entertaining, fun and exciting feast of dark humour and crime.

The main storyline revolves around four friends — Eddie (Nick Moran), Tom (Jason Flemyng), Soap (Dexter Fletcher), and Bacon (Jason Statham) — who wants to get rick quickly. They put together £100,000 so that Eddie, a great cardsharp, can buy into one of "Hatchet" Harry Lonsdale's (P.H. Moriarty) high stakes poker games. The problem? Hatchet Harry has laid his eyes on Eddie's father's (Sting) pub hence he fixed the game and soon Eddie finds himself in big trouble with a £500,000 debt to Harry that must be paid within a week, or else he and his friends will lose a finger for each day of delayed payment.

After some unsuccessful criminal brainstorming, the friends overhear the gang of thieves who lives next door planning to rip off some marijuana cultivators who keep their drug money in shoe boxes all over the plantation building, and they decide to steal from them.

In the meantime, Harry wants to put his hands on a pair of antique shotguns that are up for auction without paying for them, and he has his guy Barry "the Baptist" (Lenny McLean) take care of it. So he's not exactly pleased when he learns that, after being stolen on his account, the guns were sold, and sends his guy, Big Chris (Vinnie Jones), to retrieve them.

At his debut, Guy Ritchie pulls off a Tarantinoesque story brilliantly, delivering plenty of great plot twists and turns that not only keep you glued to the screen and on the edge of your seat, entertained and excited for the entirety of the film's runtime, but that also result in a terrific climax as the two storylines collide. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels's is a complex, layered story that asks you to really commit and pay full attention as a single moment of distraction or lingering on something will make you miss something important and leave you confused. It is the kind of fast-paced story you just sit back and enjoy. Then when it's over, and only when it's over, you can breathe and process the brilliant succession of events that just unfolded before your eyes.

In addition to the story, Ritchie's screenplay features sharp and witty dialogue, a right balance of humour and seriousness — there's plenty of hilarious moments balanced with more serious ones when non-overly graphic violence is involved, although most of the latter is played for fun — and tons of colourful characters — it doesn't really matter how one-dimensional and stereotyped they are, they all are very likeable and memorable and you end up caring about most.

Ritchie's direction too is terrific. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels moves along at a cracking pace with Ritchie's distinctive unique, stylized and energetic camera work, a feast of slow-motion, fast-motion, freeze-frame, slick editing and a wonderful sepia palette. The soundtrack, which consists mostly of British rock music but also contains some hits by soul artists, too is excellent and fits the film well.

At last but not least, the ensemble cast. It doesn't matter whether it's a veteran actor such as P.H. Moriarty, or a young actor at his debut such as Jason Statham, or a footballer player turned into an actor such as Vinnie Jones, or a rock star such as Sting, the cast does a wonderful job bringing the characters to life, each actor having their moments to shine. The most astonishing part though is the terrific chemistry between Nick Moran, Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng and Dexter Fletcher — the four friends are the core of the film and a lack of chemistry on their part would have not made the film work.