Guy Ritchie’s Crime Caper Still Delivers Laughs And Thrills

25 years ago, Brad Pitt, Guy Ritchie, Jason Statham, and a host of actors whose faces you’ll recognize but names you may not know, came together to make Snatch, a crime caper that’s as good now as it was in 2000. Even the ubiquitous director Guy Ritchie had to start somewhere.

And unfortunately for this article, that somewhere was Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. So yes, Snatch wasn’t the literal start, but it’s a familiar story to Lock, Stock, the cast is similar, and the films were released within two years of one another, so it does encompass the same era.

Ritchie would probably prefer people remember Snatch anyway, because while Lock, Stock is great, it’s Snatch that has lingered longer in pop culture, and for good reason. Snatch is just as smart, just as funny, and just as delightful now as it was 25 years ago when it came out.

Snatch Is A 10/10 Crime Caper Movie

Snatch is a crime caper, and one of the best crime comedies as well. The film jumps around from storyline to storyline, winding them all together until they’re one. The most notable of the storylines involves boxing promoter Turkish (Statham) and his partner Tommy (Stephen Graham) trying to find a fighter for their next match.

They turn to Irish Traveler and bare-knuckle boxing champion Mickey O’Neil, played by Brad Pitt, putting on an unintelligible accent so ridiculous it goes all the way back around to essential. There are diamonds, thrown fights, sudden emotional turns, and gangsters explaining the word “nemesis”, and it all comes together in one tidy story.

Why Snatch Has Held Up So Well

Snatch is a wonderful film, one that people of any age and persuasion can find something to enjoy. Guy Ritchie’s antic film style is on full display in Snatch, and as he hasn’t really changed his style in the 25 years since, you can be sure it feels just as modern as The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

The cast has all gone on to some impressive careers, including Stephen Graham in a very early role, Vinnie Jones, and Jason Flemyng. More than any of that, Snatch is just a tightly told story packed with comedic and brilliant crime moments that will constantly surprise you, no matter how many times you’ve seen it.

Brad Pitt Has Several Crime Comedies In His Filmography

Brad Pitt’s role in Snatch came at just around the height of the first peak in his career. It’s a fantastic performance, and the quickness of his lines is crucial to the storytelling. He also provides the emotional core to Snatch, pulling double duty. It’s not a surprise he’s continued doing crime capers over the years.

Pitt stars in the three Soderbergh Ocean’s movies, Burn After Reading, and Bullet Train, which encompass some of the biggest crime comedies of the 21st century. Pitt is right at home in films like Snatch maybe more than any other genre, because no one has the ability to mix the comic and the dramatic in quite the same way.