Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels

Details: By Loron Hays; 26 April 2010

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</script></div>{/googleAds}With Sherlock Holmes looming in the not too distant future, it only makes sense that Guy Ritchie's classic British crime heist from 1998 (has it been that long already?!?!?!?) would get the blu-ray treatment. After all these years, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is still a wonderfully intelligent and imagined romp of a film. Even if Snatch is the better quality of the two films, this one is where the crime-spree subject of Ritchie's career begins. It's snappy dialogue and inspired action scenes snarl with thug-like appeal of which screams for hi-def clarity and thunderous sound. Why not? After all, this is the film that introduced worldwide audiences to Ritchie's cinematic vision of crime and its criminals, Jason Statham's bald brutality, and the threatening charm of former Welsh football player turned actor Vinnie Jones.

Also starring Jason Flemying, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, and Sting, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is the story of one gang owing debt to another gang (led by P.H. Moriarty) and deciding to rob a group of marijuana growers and sellers living in the same flat in order to pay off the original debt. Full of flavorful characters complete with seemingly authentic thumps and bruisings from the streets of South East London, the film is both unpredictable in form and function as the die is cast and the fates unfold for the film's heroes... or victims.

Purposefully shot to be grainy and muted, the film's transfer feels somehow warmer on blu-ray less distant and coy. While this doesn't detract from the film's intentions, it does leave the viewer with a different reaction to the inherent violence of the film and to the threat of fingers getting chopped. Somehow the film's more shocking and unusual of actions even a pimped-out Action Jackson-like fro getting blasted through by the worried blast from a shotgun feels less dangerous this time around. Also of note is that this release is not the director's cut that was previously released to the home video market with the 12 extra minutes of footage. There's still no commentary from Ritchie on the film. And the disc's only features have been straight-up lifted from the previous release common, yes, but also very disappointing for a film with a huge cult following such as this one has.

I suppose that, ultimately, what makes this film unique is that it perfectly captures an era of filmmaking alongside Trainspotting, The Usual Suspects, and Pulp Fiction; this is a perfect portrait of Nineties cinema. It's Rolling Stones cinema - complete with Jagger swagger and Keith's cool. Ritchie's first feature-length bonanza is also an intricate puzzle to be thoughtfully put together by engaged audiences and an entertaining feast for the intelligences.