3 out of 5

Director: Guy Ritchie

With a bit of age on the film and on me (the viewer), Lock, Stock loses a bit of its ‘cool’ sheen and the sense of twist-and-turn, but Ritchie’s film craft more brightly shines through (knowing how he’s developed it) and the goofy comedy bubbles up to the surface.  I’m sure every era, every year, every month has its handful of indie films which are suddenly getting hyped with the big boys, but in ’98 I remember waiting patiently for this flick, Rushmore, Out of Sight, and The Cube to hit Blockbuster, flicks of varying story impact but a heightened visual sense definitely part of the package.  ‘Lock’ was also my first foray into the R-rated comedy caper.  I was fresh to this style, so were many, and we were WOWed.  The blatant Tarantino-ness is clear to me now, as is the major limiting factor here: style over substance.  It’s not NEARLY as bad as the bundle of films this would go off to influence with its slow-mo, multi-character, convoluted story, spinning camera + selected tunes presentation, but it’s still there – that all of the story elements aren’t really too well tied together beyond appearing in the same movie.  And now that I’m older than the actors playing these roles were at the time, I agree with Ebert’s then-review – there’s a sense that these cats are just a bit too young for the crime genre, meaning that the roles seem to be written for more experienced toughs and these guys are pretty fresh.  And now that we’ve seen how well Guy has developed his style, the odd timing of scenes in Lock, Stock more firmly roots it as a first effort.  But: it’s charming.  For all its panache, there’s a goofy grin underneath, dumb comedy peeking between the more ‘darkly’ comedic moments, laughs-between-the-scenes believable thanks to the chemistry of the principles.  As a get-money-quick flick, Lock, Stock isn’t as Pulp Fictiony with its plotting as it wants to be, and overall there’s not much of a connection with the story and characters, but it’s more restrained than you might recall and manages to keep an equal eye on entertainment along with its cool shuffle.