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Roger Crow's review
This British crime caper comes across like a cross between Pulp Fiction and The Long Good Friday: Violent, over-the-top and often hilarious.
Guy Ritchie's movie boats a great script and some sterling performances from Jason Flemyng and Nick Moran. Even Sting isn't too cringe-worthy but the most amazing turn comes from Vinnie Jones, the big screen's best thug in a long time.
The plot is far too complex to do justice to without leaving some vital element out so in a nutshell here goes:
Eddy (Nick Moran) is an East Ender card sharp and con man.
Three of his friends (Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Jason Statham) pool their money to make up the stake in a poker match at porn king Hatchet Harry's place.
Needless to say without fear of letting the cat out of the bag, Eddy loses 500,000 quid (payable in a week) and has the unwelcome attention of Barry the Baptist (Lenny McLean who died after the movie was completed) on his heels.
A good engine for a story and here things really get going.
Eddy and his friends have to come up with cash quick, or suffer the consequences.
Thrown into the mix are drug dealers, ex-public schoolboys, antique shotguns and an assortment of petty and heavy duty criminals.
Look out for Young Sherlock Holmes (Nicholas Rowe) as one of the posh drug dealers.
Good pacing, clever camera work and a superb soundtrack make this 107 minutes of your life well spent. And with a TV series on the way, thanks to ginger whinger Chris Evans, let's hope that Big Chris and company can better this offering.
There is a director's cut available on video which fleshes out a little of the background but is little different to this version which took the world by storm and left Madonna making a bee line for director Ritchie as her current beau.
Special note should be made of the soundtrack which is well worth shelling out a few quid for, if only for the track Walk this Land by the EZ Rollers and the often hilarious soundtrack snippets - "Jeesus Christ, you could choke a dozen donkeys on that. And you're hagglin over one hundred pounds. What do you do when you're not buying stereos Nick? Finance revolutions?"
Let's hope the follow up, Diamonds, with Brad pitt will prove as engaging.
© 1998 Roger Crow
