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Ritchie has attracted a large and talented cast comprised of well-known American stars and lesser known (at least on this side of the pond) British thespians. Within the large ensemble you'll find promoters, gangsters, incompetent thieves, an incomprehensible boxer, and a squeaking dog. All of these characters are somehow involved in the search for a stolen 86-carat diamond, and eventually just about everyone has it, wants it, or loses it. By film's end, some of these folks will be dead, victims of greed.

I really enjoyed this movie, but I feel awkward about discussing the fine details of the plot since it would spoil the enjoyment for new viewers. I will mention that the film contains one of the best-shot fight scenes ever committed to celluloid. Sure, there are shades of Raging Bull, but Ritchie proves that as a director he does not lack talent or vision. While some of the accents will undoubtedly be hard for us Yanks to understand, Ritchie constructs the story in such a way that his visuals reveal as much of the tale as his dialog. If you enjoyed Out of Sight, Pulp Fiction, and other such crime stories, Snatch is right up your alley.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

A better question might be, "Does this Superbit DVD look better than the original release?" This disc-set is another of Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment's efforts to optimize video and audio quality for its popular titles. The theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is, of course, presented in anamorphic video. Edge halos are present but slightly diminished, similar to the results found on the Mask of Zorro Superbit DVD, but not quite as subtle; some scenes do indeed remain visibly flawed by haloed outlines. The overall look intended by the director of undersaturated color remains, but without sacrificing a natural appearance. Small object detail and textures fair quite well here, and compression artifacts are not noticeable. A touch of visible grain contributes to the illusion of film, as do a few remaining nicks in the print. This is consistent with Superbit production; the original high definition transfer is the source for the newly downconverted and compressed images we find here. Bottom line? The Superbit is superior.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

There are two 5.1 English tracks on this Superbit release, one in Dolby Digital and the other in DTS. This film is not the spectacle most often found on Superbit, so the soundtrack is somewhat tame by comparison. That isn't to say that there aren't effective surround effects that draw the viewer into the action, but they are applied judiciously. The single most challenging aspect of the track is intelligibility, since the various British dialects - and Pitt's satirical incomprehensibility - are, at times, difficult to understand. The soundstage is a tad claustrophobic, lacking a sense of spaciousness common in many films today. Bass is present but unimpressive; a fabulous subwoofer will not be required. The film's score, such as it is, offers a stronger bass line than the sound effects.

As for the inevitable comparison between the Dolby Digital track and DTS, the differences are unusually small. Perhaps it's the nature of the audio content, but with the exception of a very subtle improvement in the timbre of the voices, I think you'll be quite satisfied with either.

The audio is supported by subtitles in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai; English Closed Captions are also included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

As with other Superbit Deluxe DVDs, the supplements may be found on a second disc. And as with other Superbit releases, the commentary track has been removed from the feature on disc one. Since there are such minor differences between the two included 5.1 tracks, I think I would have preferred director Guy Ritchie and producer Matthew Vaughn's informative commentary to the DTS track.

Absent from disc one - and not missed - is the "Stealing Stones" supplement, a branching feature that allowed you to view deleted scenes in the context of the flow of the film. Since these scenes are available on this release on the second disc, all that is missing (thankfully) is the distracting temptation of trying to insert full screen scenes into an anamorphic presentation.

On to disc two, we have a featurette entitled Making Snatch, a twenty-five minute look at the production. Lead actor Jason Statham interviews Guy Ritchie over a game of Chess, and discusses the making the film. Quite a bit of production footage is seen in this featurette and I feel that it's one of the better making-of documentaries I've seen. And kudos to Columbia; the featurette is in anamorphic widescreen. Optional subtitles are offered in Spanish and Portuguese.

The deleted scenes on the second disc include the option of director and producer's commentary. There are six scenes that, in aggregate, run less than nine minutes. They are presented in full frame with monaural sound. Next are storyboard comparisons that highlight three scenes from the film. Storyboards for "Introduction of Characters," "Avi Goes to London," and "The Big Fight" can viewed individually or next to a window displaying the film, so you can watch the film and the storyboards simultaneously in real time.

The video photo gallery is a five-minute sequence with behind-the-scenes stills edited together with music, forming a kind of Snatch music video that covers the production. Stylistically, the montage is edited in much the same way that the film is, amusing for about one viewing. Next are three 30- second US TV spots, the UK teaser and US trailer and five additional trailers for: Go, Leon - The Professional, The Lady From Shanghai, Dr. Strangelove, and John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars. Columbia's talent files with five players' and the director's filmographies are also provided. The 102-minute film is organized into 28 chapter stops.

Which brings us to the two easter eggs on the main page of disc two. Most easily found with a mouse on a PC, two hidden symbols may be found to the right of the title shown in black on yellow. One easter egg is a weird little montage of clips from the film that runs just over a minute. The second begins by asking if you are easily offended. Based on your answer, the DVD responds with an appropriately droll response.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

As is typical for Columbia DVDs, when you insert the disc an autoloaded applet gives you the option of linking to a Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment website. There are no actual exclusive ROM extras.

Parting Thoughts