Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Four Jack-the-lads find themselves heavily - seriously heavily - in debt to an East End hard man and his enforcers after a crooked card game. Overhearing their neighbours in the next flat plotting to hold up a group of out-of-their-depth drug growers, our heroes decide to stitch up the robbers in turn. In a way the confusion really starts when a pair of antique double-barrelled shotguns go missing in a completely different scam.
匚卂尺ㄥ reviewedJanuary 31, 2025
▄︻デ══━一
I'll start off this review by saying that I only just watched it for the first time, last year. I had heard of it years ago and although I had seen Snatch (which I regard as another great movie) years before I first watched this, it was a while before I got round to watching this movie. When I did watch this, it was when I rented it from Lovefilm and I found it so enjoyable that I went ahead and bought a copy of this from here, on amazon.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a London crime movie, directed by Guy Ritchie and released in the year, 1998. The film has several different plots, all of which are interlinked to one-another - some loosely and some strongly. But I won't divulge into every single storyline, but rather the pivot of the movie.
The main protagonists are four men - Eddie, Tom, Soap and Bacon, played by actors, Nick Moran, Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher and Jason Statham, respectively. The four live together and have illegal jobs, which include black market jobs, selling stolen goods. The single exception is Soap, who goes by that name because he doesn't like to get his hands "dirty" with anything unlawful. The four have spent some time earning money so Eddy, a genius card shark, can play a card game with unlawful businessman, "Hatchet" Harry and earn a lot more money; playing his weekly card games requires at least £100,000 upfront.
Being a genius at cards, Eddy has a very high chance of winning. However, aware of these odds, Harry rigs the game so that he will win, and Eddy not only loses, but he also leaves the game with a £500,000 debt, which he and his friends have a week to find! If they fail...well, put it this way, Harry is a man you pay when you owe.
I won't say any more with regards to the plot, due to spoilers. I think that this is an excellent film. It has a lot of excellent characters, including Harry's bodyguard, Barry the Baptist, who was played by the late Lenny McLean, also known as the Guv'nor, who sadly passed away the very year this film was released. Other great characters include Big Chris (played by Vinnie Jones), the marijuana growers, Winston, Charles and Willie, and my personal favourite, the sociopathic Rory Breaker (played by Vas Blackwood).
The film is very fun to watch, not to mention intriguing, what with the plot, the characters, the way the film was put together and the soundtrack it has. This film was very well done. The colouring, the characters, the dialogue, even the soundtrack and of course, the story, gives this film a true London crime feel. But what I like most about this film is the dialogue, which delivers a lot of humour to the film. I won't deny that there are many quotes that I like. These lines are among my favourites.
"Shotguns? What, like guns that fire shots?"
"Oh, you must be the brains here. That's right. Guns that fire shots."
Overall, I'd say that Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a classic British movie and is definitely one that is not to be missed.