This is topic SNATCH in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 01-25-2001, 06:46 PM:
All I've heard from people that have seen this movie is good things.
I just dont get it.
Maybe it's because I've seen too many other recent movies that I was reminded of in this one.
Basically, Snatch it just a big blown up almost retelling of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (which i liked by the way).
Some say it's also a combination of Fight Club and Pulp Fiction, but I only see that in the loosest sense possible.
You know, I liked Vinnie Jones In Lock Stock, and he was probably the only thing I liked about Gone In 60 Seconds.
His only problem is that being an actual exconvict, hes going to be stuck playing the same roles over and over again.
A friend told me that he thought that Brad Pitt was the best part of the movie.
But i thought the exact opposite.
Brad Pitt was the WORST thing in this movie.
Sure, it was funny to liten to his gibberish for a little while, but having him in there as an intelligible gypsy served no purpose whatsoever.
I like Brad Pitt when he takes roles like Fight Club, Se7en, and 12 Monkeys, but this was just plain bad.
I did like Dennis Farina and Benicio Del Toro, but their presence was not enough to save the film.
As stated before, there were too many things in this film that reminded me of other films.
The last fight scene, complete with slow motion and echoing, muffled sounds felt like it was directed by Oliver Stone for this movie because there was no room for a boxing match between Al Pacino and Jamie Foxx in Any Given Sunday.
The scenes of Dennis Farina flying to and from England was seen all throughout Darren Aronofsky's Requiem For A Dream.
SNATCH may have had an ultra-cool look and feel to it, and it may have provided a few laughs, but it failed to deliver anything of real subtancial value.
Posted by Gracia L. Babbidge (Member # 582) on 01-26-2001, 06:16 AM:
Heh, now that someone has posted a negative review of this film…I found Snatch to be a very entertaining movie.
I get quite bored and disenchanted with so many films that are released, I've seen so much, and read so much, that nothing seems new anymore. Everything seems recycled, or reworked, and sometimes just a flat out 'rinse & reuse' deal. 
Then I see this film.
Its certainly not a 'mainstream' movie, so for that it already gets a few bonus points in my book. You do have to pay attention to what is being said, so it is not pure 'brain candy' - more bonus points.
There was just something about it that I liked. So, nyeah.
Now, I screened this last week, but held off on posting anything about it…
Because something else I've noticed is that whenever I post a positive review here, I get quite a handful of negative replies. 
…Is it just me, or what???
~GLB
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In some cultures, what I do is considered normal.
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 02-11-2001, 04:26 PM:
This was pretty good. I thought it was on par with Lock/Stock... Both were essentially rip-offs of Trainspotting, but it was well done in its own way and very entertaining. The audience mostly enjoyed it.
Obviously, there's no deep meaning here, but it's a fun semi-intelligent popcorn movie that I would recommend.
Posted by Dwayne Caldwell (Member # 417) on 02-11-2001, 04:28 PM:
I'm sorry Gracia. I'm gonna have to lend that last observation of yours some credence as I am about to post some negativeness here. 
SPOILERS HERE.
I was very disappointed in this film overall. The first half was just irritating as the director's sense of style was over the top. The quick rotating camera cuts, the alternating zoom ins and outs from speaker to speaker on those intercut phone conversations, and such just annoyed me to no end.
I think I started to get into it, as did the rest of the audience I noticed, right about the time Franky Four Fingers gets trapped in the van by the three black thugs and the dog swallows the squeaky toy. Things started to pick up a bit then. But when the bookie counter girl activates the security system and the two robbers are fighting to get the door open, it was pretty evident that all they had to do was pull on the door. I remember seeing a real life instance on America's Stupidest Criminals where the same thing happened to a would be bank robber.
But I will have to agree with your friend James that Brad Pitt's character was one of the better parts of the movie. I found his unintelligible dialogue to be quite entertaining as opposed to most of the understandable yet bad dialogue that plagued the rest of the movie. I just wish Mickey's retribution at the end had been a bit more savage as I really wanted to see Brick Top suffer. There were other positive moments in the film such as Vinnie Jones pointing out the fact Replica is blatantly stenciled on the side of the gun's barrel, and Dennis Farina's presence in London in general. But my overall reaction to the movie is nowhere near the acclaim and hype this film was thus far received. What I don't get is why people think movies like this have a cool and stylish look while a movie like Detroit Rock City, that had critics and viewers alike bashing it to no end, had IMHO a much more stylish look and a faster more enjoyable pace.
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The man with the magic hands.