So, its been a while since I did post on here, so figured it was time for another one and this will be a revisit of an older post for a film I re-watched just last week and the film in question is Guy Ritchie crime comedy, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
So, 25 years on from its initial release, how does Lock Stock still fair? Well, let's find out.
And the warning is coming...
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
The film's story centres around four friends, Eddy (Nick Moran), Tom (Jason Flemying), Soap (Dexter Fletcher) and Bacon (Jason Statham) who are small time criminals and together they put up £100,000 so Eddy, a top card player, can play in a high stakes card game run by the local gangster, "Hatchet" Harry Lonsdale (P.H. Moriarty). However the game turns out to be rigged and Eddy ends up being in serious debt to Harry who gives Eddy a deadline to repay the money, although he realises Eddy most likely can't meet the deadline and also has eyes on his father's bar, JD (Sting).
Harry in the meantime also has his eyes set on a pair
of antique shotguns up for auction, and he sends his main enforcer Barry
"The Baptist" (Lenny McLean) to hire a couple of thieves, Gary (Victor
McGuire) and Dean (Jake Abraham) to get them. However both men prove to
be incredibly inept and they end up selling the guns onto a local
fence, Nick "The Greek" (Stephen Marcus) much to the anger of Barry who
threatens them to get the guns back.
Eddy meanwhile after having no success in trying to secure the money he
owes Harry, overhears his next door neighbours, who are a bunch of
thieves lead by the volatile Dog (Frank Harper) who plan to rob a group
of marijuana growers, who apparently have a large stash of cash and
drugs. Eddy tells his friends about the robbers and suggests they rob
them themselves after they return from their heist and in preparation,
Tom buys the antique shotguns from Nick the Greek. The robbers carry
out their heist successfully, despite losing one of their own men in the
process, and when they return they are ambushed by Eddy and the others
who take the money and the stash of marijuana.
Eddy and the others decides to keep the money and with the help of Nick, sell the drugs on to a local drug dealer, Rory Breaker (Vas Blackwood). However to complicate matters its turns out that the stash of drugs in fact belonged to Rory in the first place and he then threatens Nick into telling Eddy's address. Eddy in the meantime celebrates with his friends, but at the same time Dog's gang accidentally find out that it was Eddy and the others that robbed them and they decide to set up an ambush.
However at the same time Rory and his men turn up at Eddy's place and a gunfight ensues leaving mostly everyone dead, except Dog who escapes with the shotguns Harry was after. And at that point Harry's debt collector, Big Chris (Vinnie Jones) turns up to grab the guns from Dog, who later threatens Chris's son at knife point when Chris returns to his car, but Chris manages to disable Dog by crashing his car and he then kills him by repeatedly slamming his head in the car door. And from here the film moves toward its entertaining climax.....
THOUGHTS
Lock, Stock to this day, remains a very impressive film debut by Guy Ritchie as it is a film which is filled with well written characters who all have some pretty snappy dialogue written by Ritchie himself. Ritchie also throughout cleverly builds up the situations in the film and ties together the film's plot strands very nicely as it moves towards its ending and he seems to revel in bringing to life these colourful Cockney gangsters. The film also saw the emergence of Vinnie Jones and Jason Statham who went on to have successful film careers (well more so Statham than Vinnie I'd probably say) as a result and both men would make a reappearance in Ritchie's second film, Snatch.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers and strong language!)
Performance wise Lock, stock is also really good and it features a fine
cast.
Starting with Nick Moran as Eddie, the cocky card sharp who ends up in serious debt to the gangster, "Hatchett" Harry.
And Moran has some good scenes that include the one where Eddie enters Harry's card game and greets him somewhat sarcastically. So, in the scene Harry says to Eddie "You must be Eddie, J.D's son" and Eddie replies "Yeah. You must be Harry. Sorry, I didn't know your father" and Harry warns him "Never mind, son, you might just meet him if you carry on like that!".
Then there is the scene where Eddie and the others go round to Dog's place (their next door neighbours) and get comfy waiting for Dog and his crew to show up, so they can rob them and while they wait, Eddie makes some tea. So, Eddie says to the others "Right I want some tea. The enter British empire was built on cups of tea...and if you think I am going to war without one mate, you are mistaken!".
And then there is the scene where the others having just robbed their neighbours
and take their van, find a barely conscious traffic warden in the back
and Eddie says "I fucking hate traffic wardens!" and they all go in the
back and knock the crap out of him!
Also there is the scene where he finds that Harry has been killed as well as Rory and the next door neighbours and he says to his friends "What I do know is that there is no more Harry. Which mean's there is no more debt. And if there's no more debt, there's no more problem. And there's no problem with the neighbours as they are all dead. And I think, if I get this right, we haven't done anything wrong.... we're in the clear!".
And last of all is the scene where Eddie berates Tom for keeping the guns that could incriminate them in the gun massacre involving Dog and Rory's men as well as Harry and Lenny. So, in the scene Eddie tells the others "The only thing that's connecting us to this is those guns" and Bacon says "And Tom took care of that didn't you?". Tom however admits that he didn't get rid of them and Eddie angrily asks Tom "Do you mean that the only piece of evidence connecting us to this case is parked in your CAR OUTSIDE??!". Tom tries to insist he wanted his money back for them but Eddie says "Tom, you're a dick! Now you get those guns and you throw them off a bridge!" and Bacon says "And throw yourself off while you're at it!".
Vinnie Jones who made his film debut here is actually pretty good in his
role as the hardman, debt collector, Big Chris who works for "Hatchet"
Harry.
Jones also has some really good moments in the film that include
his first scene where he intimidates a client who owes money in a
tanning salon and Big Chris repeatedly slams the lid of the tanning bed
on him while complimenting him on having "a lovely tan by the way!".
And Big Chris's son, Little Chris finds the clients wallet filled with
money and says "Fucking hell!" and Big Chris barks back "Oi! You use
language like that again, son and you'll wish you hadn't!". And at the
end of the scene Big Chris warns the client "You can go home in a
plastic bag tonight, John. You owe what you owe. And by the time this
tan has faded, you will want to have paid!" and he punches him.
Then there is the scene where Big Chris meets with JD, Eddy's father and tells him that "Harry wants your bar" and JD tells him "Well, I'll choose my words carefully. You can tell Harry to go fuck himself!" and Big Chris looks surprised and pops some chewing gum in his mouth and says "I'll put that down to shock, now only once, and only once shall I allow you to get away with that".
Then there is one of the film's rare dramatic moments where Big Chris crashes his car to disable Dog from holding his son hostage in the back seat, and Chris slams Dog's head in the door yelling "NEVER! EVER!! HAS ANYONE BEEN AS RUDE TO ME AS YOU, DOG! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!" before spitting on his dead body and walking away with his son. And in the same scene Big Chris walks up to Eddy's car, whom he collided into, who lies back unconscious from the impact and Chris says "You alright mate?" but then he clocks the bag of money owed to Harry, which he had already given back and takes it saying "You cheeky bastard!".
And at the end of the film Jones has a really good
moment where he brings back the shotguns and the bag to Eddy and the
others. And he says to them re: Harry "It seems he understimated you
lot and it seems to have cost him. And now this presents me with a
problem as I'm now without an employer. So I've taken care of myself
and my son. If you have a problem with that you can pay me a little
visit. But you better be waving a white flag high and clear so I can
see it, or it'll be the last visit you ever make. Oh and one more
thing, its been emotional".
Jason Statham while he doesn't have the most prominent role in the film
also does well with his part as Bacon, Eddy's friend, who is easily the
hardest out the four of them.
Statham also has some good moments in the film such as the scene where he tells Soap a story about Harry and how he killed a former employee of his. "Harry lost his rag, reached out for the nearest thing at hand, which happened to be a 15 inch black rubber cock and he then proceeded to beat Smithy to death with it! Now that was seen as a pleasant way to go. Hence, Hatchett Harry is a man you pay if you owe".
And another good scene is where Bacon and the others enter a Soamon bar and he is given a ridiculously large cocktail and he barman tells him he asked for a cocktail and Bacon replise "No I asked you for a refreshing drink! I wasn't expecting a fucking rain forrest! You could fall in love with an orangutan in that!".
And
lastly there is the scene where Eddy and the others rob their next door
neighbours, and as they tie up Dog who says "I'll find you" Bacon says
"Course you will sweetheart! What do you think this is? Fucking hide
and seek?!".
P.H. Moriarty does very well in his part as the gangster, "Hatchet" Harry who
gives Eddy a deadline to get his debt back and he also is keen on
retrieving the antique shotguns.
Moriarty also has some good scenes in the film such as the one where Harry tells Barry he wants him to hire two men to rob the stately house to acquire the shotguns and he warns Barry "I don't want to know who you use, as long as they're not complete muppets!".
Then there is the scene when Harry meets Eddy at the card game and he says to him "You must be Eddy, JD's son" and Eddy sarcastically replies "Yeah, you must be Harry. Sorry didn't know your father" and Harry warns Eddy "Never mind, son, you just might meet him if you carry on like that!".
Another amusing scene is when Harry talks to Barry and Big Chris about how Chris should pay Eddy a visit and he asks them both some questions such as "I mean its enough to give me the arsehole, and I can't have the arsehole, can I boys?" and Barry and Big Chris keep replying "No Arry, you can't!".
And lastly there is the
moment where Harry speaks to Dean and Gary on the phone and threatens
them to get the shotguns back. So, as Barry hands the phone over to Harry, Harry warns Dean "You get me what I want or your
families are bang in trouble!" and he hangs up leaving Dean looking very worried.
Then there is Lenny McLean who is great in his role as Harry's main
enforcer, Barry "The Baptist" nicknamed as such because he intidimates
his victims but dunking and drowning them!
And Lenny get's some priceless lines in the film and the main one that stands out is when Gary and Dean tell Barry that they sold the guns on and Barry doesn't want to listen to their excuses yells at them "I'm NOT FUCKING INTERESTED! If you don't wanna be counting the fingers you haven't got then I suggest you go and get those guns! QUICK!!!".
Then there is the scene where Barry meets with Dean and Gary for the first time to tell them where to get the shotguns and Gary asks "Guns? You mean guns that fire shots?" and Barry replies "Oh you must be the brains of the operation! Yes, guns that fire shots". And at the end of the scene both Barry and Gary deliver two of the film's funniest lines, as they end their meeting Barry walks away saying to himself "Fucking Northen monkeys!" and Gary says to Dean "I hate these fucking Southern fairies!".
And later on in his final scene where Gary and Dean
unwittingly ambush Harry's office and Gary shoots Harry dead, Barry
sitting on the sofa behind him throws a hatchet into Gary's back and he
turns and shoots Harry and says "What the fuck are you doing here??!"
and Harry clutching his chest, where Gary had shot him looks on
incredulously saying "What the FUCK are you doing here?!" before dying.
Frank Harper also proves to be quite effective in his role as the
villainous hardman, Dog, who robs the marijuana growers and also later
meets his end at the hands of Big Chris.
Harper also has some good moments in the film such as the scene where Dog and his gang rob the marijuana growers hideout and one of the groups, a girl suddenly appears from nowhere and picks up a Bren gun (from one of the Dog's men) and shoots one of them dead. And afterward Dog walks up to her and says "Where the fuck did she come from?!" and he knocks her out.
And then
there is the scene where Dog berates his men after they have been robbed
themselves by Eddy and the others (who were masked). And Dog yells at
them "So we've got a bit of a problem! In fact its a bit more than a
bit of a problem. Its the mountain fucking Everest of problems! And
the reason its such a fucking monstrosity of a problem is YOU HAVEN'T
GOT THE FIRST IDEA WHO DID THIS TO US, HAVE YA!!". And Dog's men
sheepishly say they had been looking out all night and lined folk up and
if it was someone locally they would know which causes Dog to explode
"YOU'D KNOW?! YOU'D FUCKING KNOW???!! YOU WOULDN'T KNOW IF IT WAS THE
NEXT DOOR FUCKING NEIGHBOURS! Now get out of here! I'm sick of the
sight of ya!" and he kicks one of his who's head goes through the wall
who finds recording equipment lying infront of him!
Vas Blackwood is also great in his part as the ruthless and somewhat
eccentric drug dealer, Rory Breaker. And Blackwood's best scene comes
when he confronts the local fence, Nick "The Greek" over his missing
ganja. And he says to Nick "How is it your soon to be dead friends
thought they might be able to steal my cannabis and then sell it back to
me? Is this a declaration of war?! Is this some white cunts joke that
black cunts don't get?! Cause I'm not fucking laugh Ni-ko-las!!". And
then he walks towards Nick and says to him straight "If you're holding
anything back, I'll kill ya. If you bend the truth or I think you're
bending the truth, I'll kill ya! In fact you're gonna have to work very
hard to stay alive, Nick. Now do you understand everything I've just
said? Cause if you don't, I'll kill ya! Now Mr Bubble and Squeak, you
may enlighten me".
Victor McGuire and Jake Abraham are also both very funny in their roles as the inept robbers, Gary and Dean respectively and they have some amusing moments together.
So, I will start with the scene where Lenny meets with Gary and Dean and discuss the job to rob the stately home of its guns. So, in the scene Gary asks "Shotguns? What guns that like fire shot?" and Lenny says "Oh, you must be the brains of the operation. Yeah, that's right, guns that fire shots!". And as Lenny leaves he says to himself "Fucking northern monkeys!" and Gary turns to Dean and says "I hate these fucking Southern fairies!".
Then there is the one where Dean and Gary rob the stately house to get guns and
Gary sets fire to one of the couple's toes and Dean says "Gary, you're
always setting fire to people's toes! Its not gonna help!". However in
the scene, after they try and leave, the old man get's up and grabs a
shotgun and shoots a hole in Gary's quiffed hairdo!" and Dean points his gun at the old man and says "You ought to be more careful there, old timer" and he shouts out to Gary "You alright, Gary?!" and we see the hole in his hairdo.
And last of all is the scene where Gary and Dean having watched Chris go into Harry's office with the shotguns they need, they argue over who should go in to get them, unaware of the fact that this is Harry's office and Lenny is in there. So, in the scene the two men argue "He's got the guns, you go ahead and get them" and Gary asks "Why me??" and Dean says "Cos you're the hard case!" but Gary shouts back "YOU GET THE GUNS! I DRIVE THE CAR!!".
Then there is the duo of Dexter Fletcher and Jason Flemying (who also went to appear in most of if not all of Guy Ritchie's films and even in Matthew Vaughan's) who do well enough in their respectives roles of Soap and Tom. Soap often winds up his other friends, particularly Tom by saying how "Fat" Tom is despite the fact he isn't! And Soap says that in one scene to Tom "Tom, the fatter you get, the sadder you get!". Fletcher also has a good line where he proposes they use knives to "shit up" the next door neighbours for when they ambush them "Make its look like we're serious. Guns for show, knives for a pro". And of course Flemying plays a key part in the film's climax where he get's rid of the guns by dumping off a bridge, only to find they haven't fallen over into the Thames but instead are lying on a lower section of the bridge and he dangles over the side of the bridge in an effort to get them only then for his phone to ring as Eddy and the others desparately try to get ahold of him!
And last of all is Sting, who puts in a pretty decent performance as J.D., Eddie's father, who owns a bar that Harry is interested in taking to recover the debt Eddie owes him.
And I will mention two of Sting's scene that include the one where Chris meets with J.D. at the bar and he tells J.D. "I know that has come as a bit of a shock to you. But let me tell you how this can be resolved by you, a good father". JD says "Go on" and Chris says "He likes your bar" and JD asks "Yes?" and Chris says "He wants your bar" and JD asks "And?" and Chris says "Do you want me to draw you a picture?". JD then says "I do know your reputation. So, I choose my words very carefully. You tell Harry to go fuck himself". Chris feigns shock and surprise and says "I'll put that down to shock. Once and only once, will, or shall I let you get away with that".
And last of all is the scene where JD picks up Eddie outside the police station and JD asks Eddie "Am I in the clear?" and Eddie says "It appears so" but JD tells him "It appears? Let me tell you something, you better fucking well do better than "its appears so" my friend!" and Eddie says "Well everybody's dead, dad!". And as Eddie wants JD to run him to the bar, JD says "You've got legs, I strongly suggest you use them".
DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
Finally getting onto the director and writer, Guy Ritchie does a fine job here in his debut and he shows a stylish visual sense behind the camera as well as his ability to write a good story and sharp dialogue. Ritchie uses a good visual effect in the scene where Eddy has just got himself into serious debt as he stumbles nervously out of the card game the camera goes all blurry and emphasises his panicked, dizzy state. Ritchie also complements the film's visuals with a grainy and muted colour palette as the film appears to have had a bleach bypass which lends to the film's criminal underworld and overall grimy tone.
Music wise Ritchie also pulls together a good soundtrack for the film which features a variety of different tracks such as "Spooky" by Dusty Springfield, "I wanna be your dog" by Iggy Pop and the Stooges, "The Payback" by James Brown, Stone Roses "Fool's gold", "Liar, Liar" by the Castaways and last of all "18 with a bullet" by Pete Wingfield. The film's actual score is written by David A Hughes and John Murphy and its also pretty decent and well suited for the film.
FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
As for Lock, stock's flaws..... well it has to be said there are the odd
niggle or two.
For starters I thought that Ritchie's visuals in some scenes where just a bit too flashy and distracting particularly during the scene where Eddy and his mates get's pissed up to celebrate their robbery being a success.
I also felt that the film is somewhat overloaded with eccentric and edgy characters and some of them tend to grate on you little such as the weed growers, particularly Winston, who leads the group, who speaks more like a history lecturer than a drug dealer.
Ritchie at times also appears to try and be a bit too clever for his own good at times with the film's narrative and his use of cockney, which is however amusingly subtitled at one point in the film however during the scene where a barfly tells Tom a bit about Rory (the barfly was played by Danny John Jules, of Red Dwarf).
I also felt that Eddie's character was a bit of a dick as well as he was just basically being a cocky git who fancied his chances at taking Harry at the card game but was ultimately too naive to see he was being duped and in doing so landed the rest of his friends in deep doo-doo. And out of the main characters I would say that Eddy was probably the weakest one and it also begs the question what has happened to Nick Moran since the film??? (well OK he did appear in the last two Harry Potter films so he has done something since).
SUM UP
So, to sum up, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is still a very entertaiing crime comedy with its snappy dialogue and funny performances still standing up well and the cast all do very well particularly the performances from Vinnie Jones, Vlas Blackwood, Jason Statham and Lenny McLean. The film's score is also pretty good and makes good use of some classic tracks and Guy Ritchie's direction is solid even if he does rely of flashy camera techniques a bit too much at times.
And despite any shortcomings, Lock Stock has stood up well to time some 25 years on from its release and will still provide you with much to enjoy.
So, I will rank Lock Stock:
8.5 out of 10
So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post quite soon.
Until then its bye for now!
