the heist of a flawless , 84 carat diamond , fixed bare knuckle fights , irish gypsies and a dog are just some of the goings on in director guy ritchies's sophomore feature , " snatch . " 
 " lock , stock and two smoking barrels " intro'd helmer/scripter ritchie with a hyper-kinetic , in your face underworld comedy that grabbed the viewer's attention from beginning to end . 
his protagonists were innocents set adrift in a see of sharks to swim or be eaten alive . 
with " snatch , " the director doesn't remake his first work , but he does delve more deeply into the criminal underbelly of london , mining a rich collection of characters in the process . 
>from the very beginning , " snatch " tosses you into the action with the theft of the fabulous diamond , the desire of new york gangster avi ( dennis farina ) . 
en route from antwerp , diamond thief and courier frankie four fingers ( benicio del toro ) stops in london to make a separate deal with avi's partner and cousin , doug " the head " ( mike reid ) . 
frankie's addiction to gambling tempts him into making a bet on an illegal boxing match for boris " the blade " ( rade sherbedgia ) , a ruthless russian mobster . 
the bet turns out to be a setup for a robbery by a trio of bumbling incompetents - vinnie ( robbie gee ) , sol ( lennie james ) and portly tyrone ( ade ) - that goes miserably awry . 
meanwhile , a couple of young toughs , turkish ( jason stratham ) and tommy ( stephen graham ) , are trying to break in to the boxing game with the help of local villain brick top ( alan ford ) , who also owns a pig farm . 
when their first fighter is put out of action , with one punch , by a wild irish gypsy named mickey o'neil , they figure to put the loose canon in as the contender in a fixed fight . 
mickey proves less than reliable and goes against turkish and tommy's deal . 
brick top , impressed by mickey's performance , decides to gives them another chance - after calmly explaining that it takes 16 pigs about eight minutes to completely devour a corpse . 
when avi doesn't get his precious rock , he jumps on a plane for london and hires a local legend , " bullet tooth " tony ( vinnie jones ) , to find frankie and the diamond . 
things spiral out of control as all these forces head on a collision course of double-cross and double-deals - and a dog that ate a squeaky toy . 
guy ritchie ( mr . madonna to some ) is an extraordinarily talented auteur who has a wonderful knack for pulling together his unique collection of cast and crew and feeding them funny and gritty dialog that spews out of the characters' mouths like machine gun fire . 
the helmer marshals his large ensemble actors in a frantically paced caper comedy that makes you laugh and feel queasy at the same time , the above description by brick top being just one example . 
the assemblage of actors and non-actors in rough-and-tumble settings gives " snatch " an earthy feel in its depiction of london's criminal underworld . 
the cast of characters is too large to credit here , but two of the performances - first among equals , you might say - are worth noting . 
alan ford is brilliant as the ruthless , evil brick top . 
when he refuses sugar in his tea because " i'm sweet enough , " it makes you shiver , even as you laugh . 
his is one of the best gangster characters i've seen in years . 
the other outstanding perf is given by none other than brad pitt , the name actor the movie's popularity may hang upon , at least initially . 
pitt , as mickey o'neil , is hard drinking , hard fighting , highly unreliable and nearly incomprehensible with a unique irish brogue and dialect of the pikers , the irish travelers of europe . 
this gypsy brigand would steal the fillings from your teeth , especially if it would benefit his beloved mum ( sorcha cusack ) . 
when brick top threaten the safety of mickey's family , he makes an enemy that cannot be stopped . 
pitt puts a credible spin on his character and does some incredible physical stuff , too , as a bare-knuckle boxer . 
the production team behind the camera includes ritchie alumni , producer matthew vaughn and lenser tim maurice-jones , and other talented technical artist that bring the hyperactive imagination of the author to visual life . 
there is a patent feel to the look of " snatch " and " lock , stock and two smoking barrels " that reeks of " signature " for ritchie , but i'm not sure how this will translate in his future works . 
there is so much talent in the filmmaker that i would like to see him branch out in other directions . 
nonetheless , " snatch " is terrific sophomore effort , a darn good action comedy and a hoot to boot . 
i give it a b+ .