Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

8/10

Starring

Jason Flemyng

Dexter Fletcher

Nick Moran

Jason Statham

Steven Mackintosh

Vinnie Jones

Sting

Directed by Guy Ritchie

There are some movies that make it to become classics, maybe it is the actors, the writing, cinematography, musical score, directing or everything that constitute the movie itself. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a cult classics that fall in the area of “everything that constitute this movie itself is why it is a classic.”

The movie made sure you are focused on everyone, not one person steals the screen as the lead. Everyone had a hand to play in this marathon of events which led to a mountain of dead bodies and injuries. This British crime comedy does not mess around and ends with you wondering, what will Tom do first, pick his call or drop the package.

The movie plot is complex, although it wraps up very nicely. Because Ritchie did not put the focus light on one person, you have to keep track of everyone in the movie. Which made the whole experience so much inviting.

You get the feeling that you are watching three different stories at first, all tied up to a group of friends trying to pay a debt.

The group of friends trying to pay off a debt were Eddy, Tom, Soap and Bacon. The four of them raised the minimum needed to get into a card game arranged by a gangster named Harry. At the end of the rigged card game the owed £500,000. Harry sends Bug Chris to make sure the boys know that Harry intends to collect his money within a week.

The men decided to go into robbery to get this money, but that does not work out well. Before long we are tied up in a chase, where does the two smoking barrels come in? Well Harry wanted this antic guns and sent some of his men to get it for him, but those messed up so badly that the guns moved around a lot.

The action scenes were intense and the movie was not afraid of letting blood splatter all over the place.

This was the movie that brought Jason Statham fame and introduced the world to Guy Ritchie as he directed and wrote this masterpiece. The movie was well received by all who saw it and it was a hit in the box office, making more than twenty times its production cost.

If you have not see this movie by this time, I wonder why you have chosen that of all the classic movies one can miss to see in a life time, this one happens to fall into your list.