BEFORE: Another caper film, this one involving boxing promoters and a diamond heist...
THE PLOT: Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.
AFTER: This is a tough one for me to classify - there are so many tough characters, with names like "Franky Four Fingers" (Benicio Del Toro) and "Bullet-Tooth Tony" (Vinnie Jones) that's it's hard to keep them all straight. And the thick British accents don't help...Brad Pitt plays Mickey, a "piker" with the worst accent of all - you simply can't understand a single line of his dialogue!
There's a huge diamond floating around, and it changes hands so many times, it was a challenge for me to keep track of who had it, and who was working for who. There's also a couple of fixed boxing matches, but Brad Pitt's character doesn't seem to understand how to take a dive - or does he?
Dennis Farina plays Cousin Avi, who flies over to London from the U.S. to track down the diamond, and he enlists Bullet-Tooth Tony, who's tougher than tough. How tough? Tough enough to be un-armed, go up against three guys with guns, and somehow come out on top in that exchange...this is the film that made a name for Vinnie Jones and future "Transporter" Jason Statham.
The film perks up a bit with some gorgeous slow-motion boxing footage near the end, but it's too little too late. I will point out a great car-accident scene that is shown from three different points of view in rapid succession.
RATING: 6 out of 10 ski-masks
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