In tribute to the cast Sylvester Stallone has lined up for his upcoming movie, this is The Expendables week. Today our expendable is Jason Statham. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is currently available on instant Netflix.

WATCH: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) – Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language (the F bomb is dropped 125 times), sexuality and drug content.

“I have just spent 120 quid on me hair. If you think I am putting a stocking over me head you are very much mistaken.”

“Looking to make a bundle in a high-stakes poker game, a quartet of shiftless lads from East End of London instead finds themselves up to their eyeballs in debt to underworld porn king “Hatchet” Harry when the game turns out to be rigged. With only a week to repay Harry, the frantic foursome hits upon the notion of robbing a gang of reefer thieves. Nick Moran, Jason Flemyng and Jason Statham star in director Guy Ritchies stylish big-screen debut.”

Guy Ritchie knocks it out of the park in his feature film debut as writer and director.

As the writer, Ritchie not only tells a great story (actually several stories) of the criminal underground with a large cast of colorful characters but everything fits perfectly together by the end of the film.

As the director, Ritchie gets fabulous performances from all of the actors. Finally as the casting director, Ritchie picked the perfect cast.

Our young protagonists (one cannot really call them heroes) are Tom (Jason Flemyng – last seen as Calibos in Clash of the Titans), Bacon (Jason “Transporter” Statham in his first film), Soap (Dexter Fletcher), and Eddy (Nick Moran).

While all of them do a great job, the best characters are the ones on the periphery. Lenny McLean is known as Barry the Baptist because he holds his victims under the water. Sadly Lenny passed away from cancer before the film premiered. P.H. Moriarty plays Hatchet Harry whose method of punishing one transgressor had me in stitches.

A revelation are the father and son enforcer team of Big Chris (Vinnie “Juggernaut” Jones in his film debut) and Little Chris (Peter McNicholl). They make collecting debts seem fun. If you think that Vinnie looks like a real tough guy, be aware that his first day of filming occurred right after he had been released from jail for beating up his neighbor.

Musician extraordinaire Sting shows up briefly as JD. Trudie Styler was an investor in the film and is the wife of Sting.

The music near the climax as the threads start coming together is simply brilliant.

This is a great and tricky caper film. I heartily recommend it with one drawback. The accents are thick and there is a lot of slang used in the film so you will need to pay attention.

There is one scene where the slang is laid on so thick that Ritchie puts subtitles on. This scene is not only hilarious but also explains a head-scratching moment that occurs earlier in the film.

Ritchie went on to make Snatch (excellent) and married Madonna. He then put her in Swept Away which was awful. Most recently he directed the blockbuster Sherlock Holmes and has been tapped to make the sequel as well as a remake of Excalibur.

Sadly this is the only Jason Statham film currently available on instant Netflix.

People Watch: Danny John-Jules plays Barfly Jack here but is more widely known as Cat on the BBC series Red Dwarf (also available on instant Netflix)