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I suppose that if you’re a cynic, it’s easy to cast a judgment on this film with the benefit of hindsight. Ritchie’s follow up, Snatch, was a very similar film with a very similar tone and Revolver and Rock and Rolla make it easy to dismiss him as a one trick pony. But while Ritchie’s skill set seems to be somewhat narrow I think that when you look at Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in context it deserves its reputation as one of the breakout films of 1998. It single handedly revived the British gangster drama, launched the career of Jason Statham (which is good enough for me) and if you enjoyed Sherlock Holmes, take a look at this film if you want to see where the director cut his teeth. There’s nothing in Lock, Stock that’s any more frustrating than Pulp Fiction’s McGuffin or its mean spiritedness, so I wonder if those who insist on making direct comparisons do so for lack of anything else to say. Sometimes the people you inspire are more important than what you did to inspire them, and I think that in separate ways, Tarantino and Ritchie deserve credit for both.

So maybe there’s a third type of heist film – the “Guy Ritchie”. It’s the kind of film that repackages something that’s been done before but in a slightly different context. Call it“homage” if you like; call it a “rip off” if you’re a misanthrope. But in this case it’s fun, funny, and exciting – not because it’s entirely original but because you’d forgotten how entertaining it can be to see bad people do bad things to other bad people – in Britain.

In real life, most criminals aren’t particularly bright; this is why they stoop to petty theft instead of starting their own corporations, which is the smart way to steal. Maybe it makes us all feel a little safer to see a den of thieves stab each other in the back – we’re told that crime doesn’t pay but there’s nothing like seeing a maxim in action to convince you that it is true. Maybe Guy Ritchie is more than just the “British Tarantino”. The American version continues to make “Tarantino films”; they’re successful but they consistently appeal to a narrow base. Guy Ritchie has learned to take his vision mainstream and with it has earned mainstream success without making altogether terrible movies in the process. It seems that once again, he’s learned to take something that already exists and turn it something that’s just different enough to break the same mold twice.

As Tom would say, it’s all completely chicken soup. Good, good stuff.

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