Guy Ritchie was always going to have a hard time topping his startling debut Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels and he doesn't manage it with the provocatively titled Snatch. But this similarly-themed, equally foul-mouthed and just-as-violent new movie comes a very close second indeed.

To give you a rundown of all the characters would take ages, since Ritchie peoples his intricate plot with more protagonists than an EastEnders omnibus. But chief among them are Jason Statham and Stephen Graham as boxing promoters who rope an Irish gypsy – Brad Pitt – into their latest scam.

Vinnie Jones, meanwhile, is a thug who crosses paths with these three, plus jewel thieves and jewellers in a story that races towards an inevitably violent big finish.

Like Lock Stock, Snatch is Martin Scorsese on laughing gas. Ritchie uses techniques like slow-mo, split screen, sound effects and jump cuts to give the audience a giggle and he uses four-letter words and outrageous violence to truly side-splitting (and in some cases head-splitting) effect.

He's also a Tarantino-esque whiz when it comes to picking the right music and includes a sly reference to 'the Missus' Madonna by using Lucky Star in a flashback scene.

It all adds up to aggressively-playful and so-shocking-it's-funny entertainment for adults – obviously not as original as Ritchie's first film but just as daring. It's too early to tell whether he'll go on to take his place among that rare breed of great British directors, but with just two movies he's shone a ray of light (ahem) on the UK film industry.

— Simon Button 01.09.00

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