Jason Statham in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Nick Moran and Jason Statham Director: Guy Ritchie Rated: R, with strong violence and profanity Length: 115 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(March 19, 1999) -- Quentin Tarantino's influence has finally made it across the sea.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a very funny, very violent and altogether wonderful British crime caper that could have been made by Tarantino's cockney cousin, if he had one.

Actually, it's by English newcomer Guy Ritchie, in a most impressive debut.

With relentless energy and demented black humor, Lock, Stock depicts the day-to-day thuggery and skullduggery of low-life gangsters in London's seamy East End.

Best mates Eddie (Nick Moran), Tom (Jason Flemyng), Bacon (Jason Statham) and Soap (Dexter Fletcher) pool their limited resources to back Eddie in a high-stakes card game.

But the cocky sure winner loses, leaving the four boys in deep debt to some very bad people. How bad? The underworld boss is called Hatchet Harry, after his weapon of choice.

Anyway, our hapless heroes owe the mob nearly $1 million. And if they don't pay, they'll have to deal with Harry's debt collector, Big Chris (impressively played by English rough-and-tumble soccer star Vinnie Jones).

With necessity being the mother of invention, the boys concoct a crazy caper to pay off Harry and still have plenty left for themselves.

But Harry, his gang and various rival miscreants cross and double-cross all concerned, until the enterprise is hilariously out of whack.

It all comes down to whoever has control of two rare antique guns -- the smoking barrels of the title.

Ritchie's direction is fast-paced, inspired and flashy, with all sorts of freeze frames, slowed-down and speeded-up movements to underscore the action. And the crisp, rhythmic editing by Niven Howie adds to the energy.

Ritchie's script is clever, though some of the humor is too British, and the working-class accents too thick, for us Yanks.

But there are plenty of laughs left over to keep us giggling, and enough vigorous action to unnerve us.

Yes, the violence is over the top -- but no more than anything else in this hyperkinetic enterprise.

The cast is uniformly excellent, from the few established actors (including musician-actor Sting in a small role) to the streetwise amateurs hired to play various gang members.

But the big star here is Ritchie, who took what he needed from Tarantino, threw in bits of influence from British crime films like The Long Good Friday, and created a tasty steak-and-bleeding-kidney pie of his own.