The Film
Director Guy Ritchie made a name for himself by marrying pop singer Madonna - but he also made a name for his complex gangster tales that involved colorful characters and intertwining plots, with just enough twists to keep you guessing until the bitter end. Snatch, which was a follow-up to his groundbreaking Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, revolves around an 84-carat diamond, the world of unlicensed boxing, an underworld kingpin who feeds his enemies to pigs and 103 minutes of extremely colorful banter. By the end this comes together in a story that is fresh and enjoyable even after repeated viewings.
The Picture
Ritchie's films tend to have a muted color that helps take them to another reality - after all, can you really believe there are that many surreal gangsters in London - but despite this fact the Blu-ray looks really good. The 1080p 1.85:1 presentation is very good, and while the color treatment makes it hard to tell how accurate the fleshtones are, the black levels are deep and rich. The picture is free from any notable distractions as well.
The Sound
Although this isn't exactly an action-packed heist film, there are moments of extreme action and these hit you harder than a punch from a bare-knuckle boxing champion. The dialog comes through in the center channel with absolute clarity - except for the gypsies of course but you're not suppose to understand them - while the music, which sets the tone for the film, along with the effects are likewise crystal clear thanks to the 5.1-channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack.
The Extras
The Blu-ray does deliver the goods in the way of extras, and this includes director and producer commentary, some deleted scenes (presented in 4x3 standard definition), an old "Making of" feature that seems to be the holdover from the DVD version, plus a nifty storyboard comparison of some interesting sequences such as the character introduction at the beginning of the film. Sony has also added a Snatch Cutting Room feature, which lets you piece together a mini video for sharing via BD-Live, and the disc also contains Sony's new movieIQ feature.
Final Thoughts
While the original DVD release for Snatch was tip-top, with both widescreen and full-screen versions, plus loads of extras, much of the content is now on the Blu-ray, and the film has nicely been updated with lovely transfer and a pounding soundtrack. We'd call this the 84-carat edition!
Product Details
- Actors: Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Farina, Vinnie Jones, Brad Pitt, Rade Sherbedgia, Jason Statham
- Director: Guy Ritchie
- Audio Languages: English, French, Portuguese DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Number of Discs: 1
- Rating: R
- Studio: Sony Pictures
- Release Date: December 1, 2009
- Run Time: 103 minutes
- List Price: $28.95
- Extras:
- Director & Producer Commentary
- Deleted scenes with optional commentary
- Making Snatch featurette
- Storyboard comparisons
- Video photo gallery
- movieIQ
- The Snatch Cutting Room
- BD-Live
