Having largely turned his back on the genre that made him a household name in the first place, it’s easy to forget that Guy Ritchie’s breakthrough feature Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels had a seismic impact on cinema after exploding out of the blocks in the summer of 1998.
Not only did the stylish and blackly comedic crime caper recoup its budget 25 times over at the global box office, but it also led to a wave of spiritual successors dominating the British independent scene for the better part of the next decade. Of course, Ritchie was prone to revisiting the well himself, but the movie’s legacy stretches much further than the contents of its story.
Lock, Stock marked the feature film debut of a certain Jason Statham, with the former Commonwealth Games diver being plucked from obscurity and given a plum role, which he eventually parlayed into a lengthy stint as one of the industry’s premiere action heroes. Beyond that, producer Matthew Vaughn has also done pretty well for himself, while the cast is stacked with recognizable names who would go on to much bigger and better things, and Vinnie Jones is also there.
More than a quarter of a century on from it release, and the twisting tale of three out of their depth friends trying to find the funds for a high-stakes poker game has been making a quick buck on streaming, with FlixPatrol putting its cards on the table to name it a Top 10 hit in Prime Video in almost a dozen countries around the world.
Published: Feb 9, 2023 02:33 am