Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels review

Number 149 on the top 1000 films of all time is Guy Ritchie's comedy caper, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Eddie, (Nick Moran) Tom, (Jason Flemying) Soap (Dexter Fletcher) and Bacon (Jason Statham) are long-time friends and small-time crooks.  The boys raise £100,000 so that Eddie, a genius card shark, can enter a high-stakes card game.  The only catch? The card game is run by notorious gangster Harry Lonsdale (P.H Moriaty).  He loans Eddie £500,000 and then rigs the game so Eddie loses.  He gives the boys one week to pay him back.  Various capers ensue as the boys try to find the money.  A separate storyline sees Harry sending two thieves to steal two antique shotguns.

This is one of two films that made Guy Ritchie's name - the other being Snatch(2000.) The two share a lot of similarities including a lot of the same cast.  While Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones and Alan Ford only had supporting roles, they went onto have starring roles in Snatch.  It was this film that brought Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones to the public attention.  Both of them are great in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.  Vinnie Jones brilliantly capitalises on his hard man image as he plays Harry's debt collector Big Chris.

I did enjoy this film.  It had a lot of the same tongue-in-cheek humour that made Snatch so brilliant.  Although it does have a double narrative, the film was very easy to follow.  There was a large supporting cast including a rival gang that Eddie and the others aim to rob, a group of public schoolboys who double up as weed farmers for a gangster called Rory Breaker.  The scenes with the public schoolboys were some of the funniest in the film.  Sting plays Eddie's dad JD and even Danny John-Jules and Rob Brydon feature in supporting roles.  Despite how large the cast was, it was always clear just which character was which.

Ultimately, I don't have much to say about Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.  It was a great film to watch, pure entertainment from start to finish, although I have to admit, I think I prefer Snatch.