Analysis of One Work

If I'm going to analyze one of Guy Ritchie's films, it has to be the one that started it all,"Lock,Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels." The film is set in London, like most of his films, and features four everyday guys who get into a little situation with a London Mobster. OK, it's a big situation. Eddy is a poker mastermind and decides to make some quick money in an illegal card game. Only problem is it's with Hatchet Harry(Mobster), the game is fixed and eddy loses. He, and his friends, now owe Harry lots of money. Harry, of course, wants that money pretty badly, and that's where the trouble starts. To me, this is Guy's best movie, not only because it's the first one that shows his creative genius, but also because it has the best story. Ritchie is able to give great depth to his characters through the use of narration. The narration also allows Ritchie to expand the story of his movies in a way that they don't get convoluted. Eight plus characters, that get almost equal face time in a movie, usually means that it's going to be confusing, however, Ritchie makes this an enjoyable experience in "Lock, Stock..." The movie also has great action scenes. A common tool used is slow motion fight, and action scenes in Guy's movies. This film style, along with the uncommon lack of C.G.I. in his movies provide an extremely realistic and believable movie watching experience.
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Summary of Major Works

Guy Ritchie has made movies starting as far as 1995. When considering his major works, however, 1998 was the year he had his first big hit. "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" debuted in 1998. It was received with applause from film makers and watchers alike in Britain, it eventually went on to become the third highest grossing film in British history. Amazingly, after 10 distributors turned the film down, Tom Cruise rescued it and got Columbia TriStar to distribute it. Guy's next film,"Snatch," was released in 2000. The movie was given mixed grades by critics, some said it was just a continuation of his last film,"Lock,Stock," and some thought it was just vintage Guy Ritchie flair. After Guy's marriage to Madonna in 2000, they worked on a remake of the '70's film "Swept Away." The film, although a major work in his career, was a complete disaster, that was liked by very few. Ritchie attempted to reclaim his luster with the 2007 release of "Revolver," but unfortunately, it fared only slightly better than "Swept Away." In 2008, Ritchie found his magic from his first two successes, when he released " RocknRolla," which was a signature return to his "stylish crime comedies(YahooMovies)." His most recent movie, "Sherlock Holmes," came out in 2010, and is currently a very well received adaptation of the classic novel.
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Major Themes, Influences, and Artistic Style.

Guy Ritchie's movie's, at least in my opinion, are very entertaining. His movies are filled with action, humor and great dialogue. Yahoo movies wrote, "Ritchie directed some of the most stylish caper comedies about blue collar thugs and other lower class misfits ever to emerge from his native land"(YahooMovies.com). Two of the more noticeable themes Ritchie incorporates into his movies are the lives of criminal and their activities, and the London underground(ordinary people and criminals). I have never been to London nor have I seen their criminal enterprises up close, but I would suspect them to be fairly similar to how Ritchie shows them. One of Guy's influences was the movie" Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"(1969). After watching this as a kid Ritchie knew he wanted to make films.
Ritchie never went to a formal film school, so his artistic style is all his own. If you have ever seen one of his films, you notice that he has humorous and witty dialogue between his characters. Some of the dialogue might be hard to understand at first, but eventually you get accustomed to their accents. Guy's films are edgy, and fast paced. This makes for a great movie watching experience, except you may have to watch it twice to fully understand the plot. Then there's the plots of his movies, they are constantly evolving and have an omniscient way of tying it all together at the end.
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Career

After being expelled from his last school at 15, Guy Ritchie performed many odd jobs until the age of 25. At 25 Guy Ritchie's father made some calls and got Ritchie a job as a runner on a local production set. It wasn't long until Ritchie learned the ropes and was producing his own music videos and commercials. The earnings Ritchie received from the videos helped him finance his first film"The Hard Case" in 1995, which was a short 20 minute film. This short film was Ritchie's big break. Trudie Styler, Sting's wife, loved the film and offered to finance his next film. That next film was "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", this was Ritchie's first full length film. Along with his first film, his next "Snatch", defined Guy Ritchie as a legitimate film maker.
During the time between his first two films, Ritchie, married pop star Madonna. This is when Ritchie began to make some of his less acclaimed work. The first was the controversial music video "What It Feels Like For a Girl," then the two finally made a full length film "Swept Away," which was a remake of a1974 film. This movie gave Ritchie his first awards in the film industry, unfortunately, it was from the Golden Rasberry Awards. A few of the awards included worst actor, worst director, and worst picture. His next film "Revolver" did not fair much better. Then, in 2008, Ritchie remembered what made him successful, he directed and produced "RocknRolla." Two years later he made his most recent film, an adaptation of the classic "Sherlock Holmes," which has done very well in critics opinions, as well as, the public in movie ticket sells.
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Biography

Guy Ritchie was born September 10, 1968 in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. He was the second of two children born to Amber Leighton and John Ritchie. His parents were divorced when Guy was 5 years old. Unknown to many, Guy Ritchie struggled throughout his childhood with Dyslexia. He attended Stanbridge Earls school, where he dropped out at the age of 15. Ritchie never went to film school, instead he got a job as a runner and by 1995 was directing commercials.
At the age of 27, Guy Ritchie directed his first short film The Hard Case. Three years later he released his first full length film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which was a successful debut.
In December of 2000, Guy married superstar Madonna. They later divorced in 2008, and have two children together; Rocco John, and adopted son David Banda.
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