Dom Robinson reviews
Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels Distributed by
Polygram
Producer:
(The Innocent Sleep )
Screenplay:
Music:
David A. Hughes and John Murphy
Cast:
Tom: Jason Flemyng (Alive & Kicking, Deep Rising, Hollow Reed, The James Gang, Rob Roy, Spiceworld: The Movie, Stealing Beauty )
Soap: Dexter Fletcher (Bugsy Malone, The Elephant Man, Jude, Lionheart, The Long Good Friday, The Rachel Papers, When The Whales Came, TV: "Press Gang" )
Eddy: Nick Moran (Buddy's Song, Clancy's New Kitchen, The Future Lasts A Long Time, Hard Days Hard Nights )
Bacon: Jason Statham
Winston: Steven Mackintosh (The Grotesque, Land Girls, London Kills Me, Prick Up Your Ears, Twelfth Night, TV: "The Buddha Of Surburbia", "Undercover Heart" )
Big Chris: Vinnie Jones (TV: "Ellington" )
JD: Sting (Brimstone and Treacle, Dune, The Grotesque, Quadrophenia, Stormy Monday )
Dog: Frank Harper (For Queen And Country, In The Name Of The Father, Twentyfourseven )
Hatchet Harry: P.H. Moriarty (The Inside Man, The Long Good Friday, Patriot Games, Quadrophenia )
Barry The Baptist: Lenny McLean (The Fifth Element )
Rory Breaker: Vas Blackwood (TV: "Casualty", "Lenny Henry Show" )
Barfly Jack: Danny John-Jules (TV: "Red Dwarf" )
Gary: Victor Maguire (TV: "Bread" )
Serg: Mark Mooney
Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels Guy Ritchie , which gained plenty of
press attention for providing another debut in the guise of ex-footballer
Vinnie Jones as debt collector Big Chris. However, to pinpoint only
one aspect of this film doesn't do the rest of it justice.
Tom, Soap, Eddy and Bacon are four young men in their mid-twenties who could do
with some serious money, which isn't easy to come by. After a lot of saving up,
they've brought together £100,000 which Eddy will use as his bargaining
power in a game of poker with violent gangster Hatchet Harry and his associates.
Before long, their dreams turn sour and the rigged card game puts Eddy in
serious debt with only a week to find the money to pay him off. Not an easy
task, but it's worth noting - for them - that their local loan-shark lives
just next door and a break-in may be the answer. To go any further into the
plot would rob its surprising twists and turns, suffice to say that it involves
rival drug gangs, sharp comedic lines and unexpected shock events, so much so
that to this reviewer it makes this film Britain's answer to True
Romance and Pulp Fiction .
There's also a wealth of talent involved such as Dexter Fletcher ,
best known to TV viewers as Spike from Press Gang , rising star Nick
Moran as the not-so-card sharp, Steven Mackintosh as one of a group
of flatmates who don't have to go shopping for drugs because they grow their
own marijuana in-house, pop star Sting - one of the few
singer/songwriters able to act well in interesting roles, one-time Lenny Henry
sidekick Vas Blackwood cast against type as one of the most menacing
and violent men you'd never want to come across, Victor Maguire (aka Jack
from Bread ) and Mark Mooney as two small-time criminals who
accidentally find themselves mixing in with the big-time crowd, there's a
cameo from Danny John-Jules (aka Cat from Red Dwarf ) as a barman
and the theatrical debut for ex-footballer Vinnie Jones .
In addition, there's dialogue in this film to put it on a par with the excellent
Trainspotting . Approximately 82 minutes in, after the main four return
to their flat to find it broken into, all their loot and dope stolen and the
front room in a post-shootout situation, three of them discuss :
1. "No money. No weed. It's all been replaced by a pile of corpses"
2. "Don't panic. Let's think about this."
3. "Fuck that, you can think about it. I'm panicking and I'm off!"
The picture quality is mostly good, but some scenes do have noticeable
artifacts on view and this is the only major disappointment I can find within
the entire package. The average bitrate is a fairly good 4.56Mb/s but the
artifacts occur when the bitrate drops below 4Mb/s. On the plus side of things,
the disc is 16:9-enhanced for widescreen televisions.
There are two versions available here: the widescreen version, which reproduces
the original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 and the fullscreen version which allows
a little more viewing area at the top and bottom, while losing a bit of picture
from the sides.
The sound on the disc is Dolby Digital 5.1 in English. If you haven't got a
DD5.1 setup, the sound is downmixed to Dolby ProLogic. While the dialogue and
sound effects come across crisp and clear, the best thing about the soundtrack
is the large amount of top tunes such as "Hundred Mile City" (Ocean
Colour Scene ), "The Boss" & "The Payback" (James Brown ),
"Spooky" (the late Dusty Springfield ), "Liar, Liar"
(The Castaways ) and many more.
Extras :
Chapters :
Booklet :
Interviews :
Languages & Subtitles :
The disc contains an English language soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1 plus
subtitles for the same. The subtitles do a good job of keeping up with the
fast-paced talking and when a song begins, the title is displayed more often
than not.
Easter Eggs? :
Menu :
The interactive menu works well and is animated with a clip of Vinnie Jones
when he pays a visit to the sauna. It's a shame that there's no music at the
same time. A tune such as James Brown's "The Boss" which begins when
Big Chris makes his first appearance in the film would be appropriate.
Another thing to note is that on playing the disc you can't skip past the
copyright info. Selecting "Play Movie" brings up the Polygram logo.
Vinnie Jones, for the most part, isn't quite as menacing as the other gangland
types or as good as reports would have you believe, but it's his first film
and it will be interesting to see how his career progresses. If his acting
improves though, it will surely be down to the multitude of fine actors on
display in this film.
Aside from this, Lock Stock... is genuinely the best British film of
last year and is also one of the best-presented DVDs around containing many
extras as well as both formats of the film, Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and an
informative booklet.
The only other thing I'd like to see here is a feature-length director's
commentary track, but for now what's on offer is well worth a purchase.
Before I sign off, there's no point me telling you what the Region 1 (USA)
DVD has to offer - it doesn't exist yet and the film has only just opened
in US theatres so for once we have a clear advantage over the American film
market.
If you'd like more information on this film, check out the official Website
at :
http://www.lockstock2barrels.com
FILM : *****
PICTURE QUALITY : ***½
SOUND QUALITY : *****
EXTRAS : ****
-------------------------------
OVERALL : ****½
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.
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