Alternate Covers
(register to change the above image)
|
|
|
Shop at Amazon
|
The Boondock Saints [Blu-ray]
List Price: $34.99
Amazon's Price: $23.95
Used Price: $23.95
Not yet released
|
Boondock Saints (Unrated...
List Price: $19.98
Amazon's Price: $13.49
Used Price: $7.49
Usually ships in 24 hours
|
The Boondock Saints [UMD...
Used Price: $17.74
This item is not available from Amazon, but you can purchase it used from third-party sellers.
|
The Boondock Saints
Used Price: $4.39
This item is not available from Amazon, but you can purchase it used from third-party sellers.
|
The Boondock Saints
Used Price: $5.48
This item is not available from Amazon, but you can purchase it used from third-party sellers.
|
|
Review by 385
Added: August 31, 2007
And shepherds we will be,
for Thee, my Lord, for Thee.
Power hath descended forth from Thy hand;
that our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command.
So we shall flow a river forth to Thee
and teeming with souls shall it ever be.
I'm sure you've all seen this poem in blogs and forum signatures all over the interweb. Normally, this type of attention is usually reserved for things like My Chemical Romance lyrics, but every now and then something of actual quality gets its due credit. Even blind squirrels will find an occasional nut.
The McManus twins, Connor and Murphy, are two deeply religious, Boston men with not a lot of ambition in life. They work at a slaughterhouse, attend mass, and then drink with their Italian buddy, David Della Rocco, at the local Irish pub. While celebrating St. Patty's Day, the bartender tells them that his bar had been bought out by the Russian Mafia, just as three Russian mobsters enter and tell the group that the bar is closing immediately. Not too happy about their friend being pushed around our heroes, Rocco and the other patrons stand up to the Russians' bullying. The following morning their bodies are found in an alley, surrounded by Boston's finest trying to piece together what happened. After he listens to their shoddy deduction theories, FBI Agent Paul Smecker announces he is taking over the investigation since the victims are connected with the Russian Mafia. With just a quick once-over of the crime scene, he figures out exactly what has happened and calls a manhunt on the brothers. Meanwhile, said siblings are at a Catholic hospital, half-naked and looking quite the worse for wear. After hearing they are wanted men, they willingly head down to the police station to turn themselves in. Meeting with Smecker, the two tell their story of the bar fight the night before and are let off for self defense. In an effort to avoid the media, they spend the night in an empty jail cell where both brothers are simultaneously jolted from their sleep by a Divine Calling. "And whosoever shed man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. Destroy all that which is evil, so that which is good may flourish." With this new ambition, they set out to stamp out the sadistic gangs in the city.
This one is usually written off as just another pointless, overly violent Tarantino clone. Sure, writer/director Troy Duffy gives Quinton a few nods here and there, mostly with his use of an "out of sync" plotline, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it a clone. Its message is more of a social commentary than anything else. Maybe not so far as to say everyone should go out and kill murderers and rapists, but merely the acknowledgment that everyone is thinking about it. The man was inspired to write the screenplay after coming home one evening to see a dead women being taken from a drug dealer's apartment across the hall from his own. That incident, along with thousands of similar happenings across the country, absolutely disgusted him. The Boondock Saints is the result of the man blowing off steam. If he couldn't solve the problem himself, then by God he would create a world where he could.
Murphy and Connor were played by Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flannery respectively. In a movie that admittedly puts the big picture ahead of its smaller parts, I'm glad to see they were able to differentiate the two characters. It would have been very easy to let the McManus twins be two peas in the pod and get away with it, but as it is, Connor is a lot more reserved and introspective than his brother. Of course, two Irish men in Boston are going to talk with a brogue, and further props to their work in picking up the accent. Sure, it sounds easy, but after watching some of the early takes, it's obvious to see that they both had to put quite a bit of work into it. David Della Rocco, who interestingly uses his own name in the movie, was pretty damned good in his own role as well. Something of a sidekick, he still shines in quite a few moments, most notably the argument with his hooker girlfriend over her cat. Despite the best efforts of those three however, Willem Dafoe absolutely steals it as Agent Paul Smecker. Smoothly shifting from his smooth, cocky demeanor in the beginning of the investigation to completely losing it as each crime scene comes up empty, this is one hell of a testament to his talent.
After it built up its small cult status, the sequel, All Saint's Day, has just been greenlit. Personally, I've got rather low hopes for it. This is one of those movies that stands just fine on its own, and any extra help along the way is probably going to do more harm than good. After all, the exposition is this movie's biggest strength, and the biggest thing a sequel is gonna offer is the on-going work of the Saints. That is, I have a feeling its base is going to be found in the action sequences. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it would be quite a letdown after this one. Hopefully, Duffy is able to pull a little more originality out of his hat. One last thing I have to point out is that even though religion is a major plot point here, it's not presented in that "ram it down your throat" way. So any non-religious people having second thoughts, worry not. Eight years after it's release, despite initially crashing, this movie is slowly building up its fanbase. Better late than never I suppose. 9/10.
|
This review hasn't been rated yet.
|
|
|
![The Boondock Saints [Blu-ray]](covers/thumbs/mvmmdi_dummy.jpg "The Boondock Saints [Blu-ray]")
![The Boondock Saints [UMD for PSP]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41CTE6196AL._SL75_.jpg "The Boondock Saints [UMD for PSP]")
