rating:
(out of
4 stars)Canada, United States; 1999
Directed by Troy Duffy; produced by Chris Brinker, Robert Fried, Elie Samaha, Lloyd Segan; written by Troy Duffy
Starring Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Willem Dafoe, David Della Rocco, Billy Connolly, David Ferry
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
The storytelling must be inspired by Quentin Tarantino. I think you can say
the same for the dialogue. Despite this there is something very original in
'The Boondock Saints', a movie about two Irish brothers who think they have
to kill criminals in the name of God. Their names are Connor (Sean Patrick
Flanery) and Murphy MacManus (Norman Reedus). Together with a friend David
Della Rocco (his real name as well) who knows the criminal world very good
they start their mission.
The funny thing is that they are not really good at what they do. They know
how to shoot but their methods are straight from the movies they have seen.
Even the dialogue tells us this. That they kill six members from the mafia
in one shoot-out is dumb luck, not skill. It gives the movie its funny
moments. The Rocco characters is only there for the comedy but as long as it
works there is no reason to complain.
Willem Dafoe plays the gay cop who is on the case of the two brothers. He
has to catch them but approves of what they are doing. All the criminal
leaders are wiped out and that means there is not a real problem. Although
Dafoe has a strange way of overacting here, it works the way it should. The
whole movie goes over the top sometimes, but because we and the movie are
very aware of that fact it seems to be the right way to go.
With every new thing the brothers have done first we arrive on the crime
scene, then Dafoe gives his opinion and then we see what really happened.
The formula gets a little too familiar near the end, but it is not really a
problem. It is fun to see how sure Dafoe is every single time he describes
the events, and at first we see how right he is every time. But on the most
crucial times, later in the movie, he is terribly wrong and one of his
assistants is right. The way the movie shows us this is a lot of fun.
'The Boondock Saints' works in every way it wants to work. A light crime
movie, an action movie and a comedy. Like in the Tarantino movies the right
genre is chosen at the right moment and when it is all pretty good, I can do
nothing else but recommend this movie.