60/60 Review #10: Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels.

Having seen a couple other Guy Ritchie films in the past, I knew what I was getting into here. This is a title I've known for many, many years... but one I'd just never seen. Finally, however, that ghastly oversight has been fixed. And strangely, it transitions well from the previous film. This film takes on multiple stories. There's Tom (Jason Flemyng), Soap (Dexter Fletcher), Eddy (Nick Moran), and Bacon (Jason Statham), all of whom lose a high stakes card game to sex club owner Harry (P.H. Moriarty). They have a week to get half a million pounds or else they start losing some fingers. Meanwhile, Harry gets his right-hand man Barry the Baptist (Lenny McLean) to hire a couple idiots (don't remember their names, sorry) to steal some antique shotguns which end up getting sold to Nick the Greek (Stephen Marcus) on accident, as he's looking for guns for the original 4 guys, as they're planning on stealing money and drugs from another set of guys to get the money they owe to Harry. Also involved is Big Chris (Vinnie Jones), a bit of muscle hired by Harry for various reason.

There's probably even more I'm leaving out, but I'd learned from Snatch. how involved and confusing Ritchie's plots could get. (That's not a complaint, though.) If I did have a complaint, it was that I did get confused frequently at the beginning... maybe up through the card game. I was having a hard time following along with who was who and what was going on. There were so many characters and scenarios being thrown at you at once that it was just a wee bit tough keeping track. But I started to manage after a while.

The acting was great and the characters were a lot of fun. My favorite was probably Vinnie Jones' Big Chris. He's essentially a hitman who takes his son around with him and is always polite and patient. The dialogue was fun, too. Sometimes it was hard to follow, but I stayed with it for the most part.

I do really enjoy these types of stories. It isn't exactly an anthology, despite it being a collection of multiple, interweaving stories. It's similar to Pulp Fiction where just a bunch of random stuff is happening to different characters, but they all affect each other (here much more than Pulp Fiction). Really, when you break it down... all it is is that four guys owe money to a dangerous man, another set of guys need to sell some weed, and the aforementioned dangerous man wants a pair of antique guns. But when you mix all of those together, chaos ensues.

I found it an interesting directorial choice to have those kind of grayish tones and shadows throughout the whole film. It gave the whole thing a kind of wet, gritty, grimy feel to it with just the color. Otherwise, I don't have a hell of a whole lot to say about the movie. I need to rewatch Snatch. now that I know what I'm getting into (that one was my first, and I was really left like WTF afterwards). Right now I like this one a little better. I watched it last night and thought on it, and the more I think about it, the more I think I like it. So before I get on rambling too much, I'll just go ahead and stop here.


A Keanu 'Whoa'

SHERLOCK HOLMES.

From the trailers, I was never sure what to make of this movie. I'm not an avid fan of Sherlock Holmes or anything, so it wasn't an issue of staying true to source material or whatever. I guess it just made it seem a pure action movie with slow motion visuals and little on the mystery. I suppose this is a case where the trailer wrongfully portrays a film.

Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) is the greatest detective of his time. He and his partner and friend, Dr. Watson (Jude Law), have just stopped Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) from killing another person. Blackwood is then tried and hung for his deeds. But then he rises from the dead and boggles the minds of the Scotland Yard. Around this same time, an old 'flame', Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), arrives to stir up a bit of trouble in Holmes' life. But while working on her case, he gets mixed up in the new case of Blackwood's resurrection. And it's up to him and Watson to solve the case before it's too late.

First, the movie wasn't just all action as I had feared. There is plenty of it there, but there's also a good bit of mystery involved, as well. And as for my much-feared slo-mo fighting, it worked in the context of the movie. Basically, it's Holmes slowing down the situation and thinking out his points of attack, rationalizing it, before he does it. And it only happens a couple times. Other than that, the action is pretty good.

The mystery, on the other hand, is (from what I hear) classic Sherlock Holmes. By that I mean that there is no way for the audience to figure it out beforehand. You know what bits and pieces are important when you see them, but there's no way (unless you're a scientist or genius) to figure out what the pieces mean or how they fit together. Usually I hate that kind of mystery, as I think the point of a mystery is to be able to figure it out yourself (thus becoming the detective), so taking away that ability and giving it a "out of nowhere" response is a bit of a letdown. Not necessarily the case here. I think they kept it entertaining enough and shot well enough that it didn't really bother me.

As with most Guy Ritchie films, the dialogue is heavy and fast, making it sometimes hard to follow. Though, unlike his other films, it doesn't permeate throughout the entire film. It's just in a few places here and there. But also, like other Ritchie films, the cinematography and overall visual style was great. There were some really beautiful shots in the movie.

I don't have too much to say about the film, really. I liked the visuals, the music, and (as expected) the comedy. I suppose the biggest surprise was Jude Law. I don't go out of my way to see Jude Law films, but I really enjoyed his portrayal of Dr. Watson and wanted him back when he wasn't on screen. Anyway, an all around fun film. It was good entertainment, and I'll definitely be seeing the sequel (because there's gonna be one).


A Keanu 'Whoa'

P.S. The biggest disappointment? The McAdams cleavage shot from the trailer isn't in the movie. Boo.