malkav11

Tonight I watched Snatch, another wonderful movie from the guy responsible for Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Much like that movie, he draws together a large, colorful cast of criminals and ne'erdowells, most of them with some sort of strange British accent, and launches them into a complicated plot where various people get in trouble with other people and fuck over still other people in an attempt to get out of the hole they've dug, thus generally digging themselves in deeper. Like the previous movie, it's also quite funny and has a lot of memorable scenes and running gags and such. (plus more than one returning actor). I'm particularly fond of the dog that swallows a squeak-toy whole, thus ensuring that for the rest of the movie anytime anyone interacts with it it makes that squeaking noise.

I didn't think it was quite as good. LS&2SB set all the people spinning in their separate orbits and then carefully, deftly, set them all to intersecting in a mad chaotic storm of screwups and missed timing, and ended on an absolutely classic dilemma. Snatch's story is easier to follow, but also less brilliantly interwoven. Also, the characters aren't as interesting in some cases. (though, lord knows, the Larry King-esque crime boss is a sight to behold.). And the more brutal violence exhibited is a chilling undernote that robs the movie of some of the comedy inherent in the first.

But hell, they're both a great time.

Something tells me the other movie I was meant to receive today (but didn't) won't be nearly as good: Fantastic Four. (That I'm seeing it at all is strictly a matter of geekdom and the low rental prices associated with a Netflix account.)