Have you ever wondered what a porn flick would look like without all the sex? Well, wonder no more, for Jorge Suarez's "The Snatch" answers this age old question... You still get the same wooden actors, the same stilted dialog, complete with lengthy pauses between lines of dialog, and enough throw away jazz to fill the multiple periods of inactivity. from what my wife and I were able to figure out, you have some inexperienced PI/cop who gets caught up in a caper involving a computer hacker and some downloaded software.
It's really hard to tell, as the pace is slooooooooooow with choppy editing, doing anything in it's power to keep the viewer inattentive. Although promoted as an action film, the director spends an inordinate amount of time on talk scenes. Now perhaps if the dialog, screen play, and acting were interesting, this wouldn't be so bad, but with on screen interaction akin to that of a third grade production of Chicken Little, one can't help but chalk it up to a minuscule budget preventing too many action scenes.
Speaking of the occasional action scenes, well, they mainly comprise of 2 minute gun fights over-saturated with an inappropriate "peppy" jazz score. It's obvious that the film makers are big fans of films such as Bullett, Lock Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, et al, but need to take another look at those films and realize that throwing some jazz, attempts of witty dialog and periodic action do not an engaging movie make.
The directing wasn't completely without its moments of charm. Some of the angles and use of light were spot on. A good example would be at the 1hr6min mark, with some nice steady cam work. The editing was for the most part pedestrian, with the occasional jump cut, which keeps the pace much too slow for the type of film this wishes to be.
On a side note, I did enjoy the little joke regarding Harv's reading matter...some of the magazine titles were pretty funny.
All in all, I didn't hate this movie. Though slow and plodding for the first hour, it does pick up speed in the third act, but I doubt most will be willing wait this long for an action movie to get active.
