(HH, AbAb, LLL, VVV, S, NN, A, MMM) Strong humanistic world view emphasizing greed, lying, violence & lack of regard for consequences or the value of human life with anti-Biblical discussion of a non-literal interpretation of the Bible by villains posing as Orthodox Jews & vulgar comments made regarding the Virgin Mary; 180 obscenities (mostly the f word) & 7 profanities; extreme violence including dead men being loaded into the trunk of a car, bare-knuckled boxing matches, men being suffocated with plastic bags & fed to pigs, several brutal beatings, implied dog fights, dead animals in ring, man beats dog with cane, man attacked by pit bulls during interrogation, man hit by car (repeated from different POV’s), man cut with knife, men grabbed violently in the crotch, men beating each other with baseball bats, multiple shootings, dead man has arm cut off with a meat cleaver; strippers in strip club shown dancing & images of pornographic cards; upper male nudity in boxing matches & upper female nudity in a topless bar & on pornographic playing cards; alcohol use & abuse, smoking; and, miscellaneous immorality such as theft, cheating, gambling, lying, deceit, & gangsterism.

SNATCH is a violent and sometimes humorus look and organized crime in London. Creative camera work, solid acting, and innovative, interesting storytelling are up staged by gratuitous violence and obscenity and a humanist, almost nihilistic worldview.

Creative camera work, solid acting and innovative, interesting story telling are upstaged by gratuitous violence and obscenity in the movie SNATCH. Writer and director Guy Ritchie (LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS) has given us another British equivalent to PULP FICTION.

SNATCH is the story of an 84 Carat diamond heisted by Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro of TRAFFIC). Franky loses the stone (and eventually his life) in London while en route to New York to deliver the stone to crime boss, Avi (Dennis Farina of TV’s CRIME STORY). Franky is conned into placing a bet on an illegal boxing match by a gun dealer named Boris the Blade. Boris double-crosses him by hiring a couple of bumbling, low budget pawnbrokers to hold up the bookie while Franky is placing the bet.

This story is narrated by small time, unlicensed boxing promoter, Turkish (Jason Stratham), who, with his incompetent partner Tommy (Graham), is setting up a fight with the local mafia chief, Brick Top. Turkish finds himself over a barrel when his fighter is put in the hospital by a fast talking Gypsy called “One-Punch” Mickey O’Neil (Brad Pitt). O’Neil agrees to fight in their boxer’s place, but gets them in more trouble when he refuses to take a dive in the fourth round. Impressed by Mickey’s skill, Brick Top offers him one more fight as an alternative to being fed to the pigs.

In the meantime, Cousin Avi grows tired of waiting on Franky and, upon landing in England, employs the services of Bullet Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) to help him find his missing employee. Together they tour London, terrorizing witless thugs and two-bit criminals in search of the diamond. The story continues to twist and turn though lies, double-crosses and random acts of violence.

All of the players put in great performances considering the lack of substance in the script. While the production value of this movie is high, the feeble writing is evidenced by the amount of vulgarity used to substitute for dialogue and the plethora of needless violence filling time. The only socially redeeming quality of the movie (and this is a reach) would be to illustrate the logical conclusion of a humanistic worldview where there is no ultimate judgment and human life has no value.

Writer and director Guy Ritchie (LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS) has given us another British equivalent to PULP FICTION. SNATCH is a violent and sometimes humorous look at organized crime in London. The story is woven around a bizarre group of characters, including fast talking gypsies, jewel thieves, unlicensed boxing promoters, Jewish gangsters, and a bad guy who feeds his enemies to his pigs. The movie has many recognizable faces, including Dennis Farina and Brad Pitt, and a style reminiscent of FIGHT CLUB or PULP FICTION. The story revolves around the search for a stolen diamond. The search twists and turns though lies, double-crosses and random acts of violence.

All of the players put in great performances considering the lack of substance in the script. While the production value of this film is high, the feeble writing is evidenced by the amount of vulgarity used to substitute for dialogue and the plethora of needless violence filling time. The only socially redeeming quality of the movie (and this is a reach) would be to illustrate the logical conclusion of a humanistic worldview where there is no ultimate judgment and human life has no value