Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels [1998]

Abishai100

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Sep 22, 2013
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The outlandish British dramedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels starring Jason Flemying and Sting is the first real blockbuster which established the offbeat filmmaker Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Sherlock Holmes, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword). It features a terrific debut cast and great sound-editing and classic stripdown camera-work.



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A group of Brit-pals (Eddie/Tom/Soap/Bacon) put together enough pounds to play in a high-stakes card game sponsored by a local mob-lord named Harry which turns out to be rigged and lands the buddies and their diplomat card-shark in a serious debt.

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The Brit-pals resolve to pay off the debt with some unusual methods of theft including one devised after over-hearing a break-in scheme of a drug dealer's wealthy residence filled with drugs and money. The pals do the job before others can and in some odd twists and turns end up with two vintage classic antique shotguns worth an incredible amount of money!

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The pals think they have it made, right, but Harry the goon and other minions in this tight and gripping dialogue-driven crime drama and Brit-comedy are now intertwined in adventures and conspiracies involving all kinds of drugs and money. Harry's henchman Chris and his son Little Chris are employed to retrieve the shotguns for Harry. The Brit-pals will have to endure all this surrounding crime syndicate intelligence.

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The break-in at the drug dealer's place is quite funny, capped in storyboarding with a hilarious moment when the nearly unconscious girlfriend yanks a machine-gun and attempts to act as the only police force in the environment! Haha.

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Vinnie Jones is great as Chris and is charming in a devious way with his son Little Chris, as the two act really as a hitman father-and-son team. They end up in places where there's lots of symbolic English action and gunfire and Chris has to at one point save his son.

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Does Harry the goon get killed ultimately in this delicious crime comedy about goons trafficked amongst fun-loving thieving Brit-pals? The goons by the way add some delicious flavor to this theft story.

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When Eddie and Tom and the Brit-pals discover the antique shotguns they've miraculously procured are worth a hell of a lot of money, there's a great scene in which this revelation must be balanced by a real human danger crisis. Overall, the casting and storytelling make this first Guy Ritchie masterpiece one for the history books.

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You really don't have to be a Brit or fan of British comedy or cinema to just sit back with a nice rum diary and enjoy this iconic modern crime-urban dramedy, filled with excellent casting and even better camera-tricks. This is a story for our modern era of great dystopian storytelling. 4/5 stars I think. Enjoy (IMO)!

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"Money is everything" (Ecclesiastes)
 
It did really well over here because it was a cut above the standard britflick. We generally have low expectations. The downside is that it gave us Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham.
 

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