![]() ![]() Moriarty, who appeared in The Long Good Friday). Eddy (Nick Moran), Tom (Jason Flemyng), Soap (Dexter Fletcher), and Bacon (Jason Statham) are a quartet of con-artists and thieves who have scraped together enough money to enter a high-stakes poker game run by the ominously-named Hatchet Harry Lonsdale (P.H. If the criminal ranks in London are comprised of losers like this, it's a wonder that anyone gets away with anything. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels contains gore, but its presentation is neither gut-wrenching nor intense. It's easier to laugh when the baggage of excessive, graphic violence is taken out of the equation. This effectively distances the viewer from the bloodshed, allowing us to see the proceedings in an almost cartoon-like light. We see the ramifications, but we miss the genuine brutality. All of the most vicious acts occur off screen. While there's as much violence, Ritchie's method is different. Surface likenesses aside, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels is actually a kinder, gentler motion picture than Pulp Fiction. Considering that Tarantino's movies, no matter how expertly done, are largely derivative, it's entirely feasible that Ritchie could have come upon the same formula independently, and, since it's in vogue, there's little surprise that his movie has found an audience. ![]() ![]() One can also readily assume that Trainspotting figured into the mix (several scenes and photographic tricks are lifted almost verbatim), and the combination of humor and bloodshed recalls Elmore Leonard's approach (see, in particular, Out of Sight). Instead, he cites his primary inspiration as the taut, brilliant 1980 British gangster film, The Long Good Friday. But, while numerous similarities are in evidence, Ritchie denies having been influenced by Tarantino. Tarantino where the irony drips more freely than the blood.įor viewers of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, two of the first movies to leap to mind will be Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Those who sample Ritchie's movie will find it to be a nearly-perfect blend of violence and comedy, a kind of O. Now, with an appropriate push from Gramercy, the North American distributor, the film is about to take its shot at success on this side of the Atlantic. After having difficulty securing a financial backer, Guy Ritchie's debut feature became one of the biggest home-grown successes in the U.K. The tale of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels is the most improbable of success stories. ![]()
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