Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels is the first full-length film in British filmmaker Guy Ritchie’s explosive career. Ritchie wrote the script as well as produced and directed the production.
Precluded and inspired by great caper flicks like The Italian Job and the black comedies of Tarantino, the plot follows four young British gentlemen out to make a quick buck in the world of underground high stakes gambling, which helps line the pockets of several major players in the criminal underbelly of the London mob universe.
The key players in the plot are Eddie (Nick Moran), the card shark of the bunch on whose shoulders the payoff of the simplistic scheme rests most on, Soap (Dexter Fletcher), the level-headed wiser who would more likely hide in a hole than shoot anyone, Tom (Jason Flemyng), a tall, lanky henchman with a penchant for armaments and Bacon (Jason Statham), a smart-mouthed roughneck who’s got more guts than any of the rest.
The whole bang up job goes horribly wrong when Eddie goes all in on a £500,000 bet against legendary porn tycoon Hatchet Harry (P.H. Moriarty), despite only having €100,000 pooled together from his three cohorts. Harry cheats, Eddie loses and the partners find themselves in debt to a ruthless killer and cunning businessman. Harry gives them 15 days to front the cash or face the dire consequences.
Immediately, Eddie and the gang start to formulate plans to get needed money. After much debate, the team overhears a discussion in the flat next door of a plan to rob some local non-violent druggies who are rumored to have thousands stashed in an upstairs loft. Leading the plotters is a vicious criminal named Dog (Frank Harper), who plans to take his team of miscreants and essentially kick in the door to raid the cocaine shop.
Several other memorable characters join the fray, often by accident, and are interwoven into the story. Each one has his own motivations, either to make money or keeping from being shot, and the mash-ups created are as entertaining as watching a long trail of dominoes fall on top of each other, collapsing in a neat, orderly line.
As a double-dip, the movie fairs pretty well. The added minutes flesh out the rules of the card game a bit more and both fans of the original and first time viewers should really appreciate that. The two new mini-documentaries, One Smoking Camera, a behind-the-scenes look at the cinematography of the film, and Lock, Stock and Two F**king Barrels, which covers every expletive used by characters throughout, are rather humorous if not entirely informative.
Video quality is sub-par. It’s obvious that the film wasn’t re-mastered in any way in this release, and the washed out colors in many of the scenes are a tell-all. Many frames have a yellowish tint to them and an overall graininess pervades the entire feature. Video sticklers will be pained at the sight of it, but if you can appreciate the dirty, stylistic cinematography approach, you can probably look past it.
The sound mix is available in 5.1 surround sound in English, Spanish and French. The audio of the original movie wasn’t all that great to begin with, but vocal tracks are clear (although understanding the frequent use of cockney slang can prove quite challenging.) The frequent action-packed moments give the surround speakers a good workout, which makes the whole thing feel more like an experience and less like listening to your TV.
Lock, Stock is the movie that marked the return of the post-modern action flick, from the multi-level, multi-character story arcs that come together at the end to provide a smash up (and quite funny) conclusion to the story, to the gritty, shaky cinematography distinct in most of Ritchie’s later directing.
While the movie definitely isn’t for everyone, fans of black comedy and those that can tolerate realistic blood and guts will get a kick out of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. It’s gritty, witty humor will delight newcomers and the added minutes make this DVD a worthy replacement for owners of the first DVD dip.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Locked 'N Loaded Director's Cut) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, this version of the DVD is not available in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
Your Talkback on this Story