Rent The Boondock Saints on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Troy Duffy
Directed by: Troy Duffy
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, David Della Rocco, Billy Connolly
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
Two Irish Catholic brothers become vigilantes and wipe out Boston's criminal underworld in the name of God.
Verdict
I don't like this as much as I remember. It's been a long time and a lot of movies since I last saw this. It's style over substance as we watch two vigilantes exact justice in their hometown. The humor relies on being over the top and offensive, and this toes the line on the rule of cool. The movie isn't much more than a bunch of cool action sequences, and they are indeed fun. Exceedingly competent actors elevate this to more than it could have been. The biggest reason for my change of opinion is that the more movies I watch, the more I value story. If you want a fun action movie, this provides exactly that but it's light on story. The most questions this raises about vigilantism are the interviews during the end credits.
It depends.
Review
A few quick scenes to start the movie introduce us to brothers Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus). They're close, devout, and jovial. One night in their favorite bar, a run in with Russians is the impetus for the plot.
This movie employs a unique setup for every action scene. We get the setup to the scene and then cut to just after the scene where a character will recount what happened. For this bar fight, FBI agent Smecker (Willem Dafoe) provides his theory as to what happened which shows his astuteness. It's also a cool looking juxtaposition of the theory of and what actually happened.
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| Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flanery play Murphy, Connor |
I first watched this a long time ago, and watching it again the script feels lean as this is too close to rule of cool. The brothers frequently get incredibly lucky. It's easy to ignore that as the actions scenes are a lot of fun. The humor is also juvenile, relying on being offensive more so than actually funny. The best use of humor is the brothers basing their attacks on what they've seen in movies. Great actors mask a lot. The brother are good, but Dafoe is great. Plenty of actors would have made that role feel cheesy. Dafoe brings it to life.
The brothers are local heroes who defended themselves against the Russian mob that is taking over the neighborhood. Even the cops appreciate what they did. The brothers have a revelation and decide to clean up the town and remove the criminal element. Their friend Rocco (David Della Rocco) is an oaf, but he's a bag boy that knows all the players and can help the brother pick targets.
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| David Della Rocco, Willem Dafoe play Rocco, Smecker |
I like the idea of two brothers deciding to stand up to bad guys. The movie makes vigilantism look beneficial. Law enforcement supports them, but this also sidesteps the pitfalls. The brothers alone decide who should die. We don't know what criteria they use. In the movie they just kill the worst criminals. Their friend Rocco is a criminal by definition, but he's not as bad so he gets a pass. The justice system has safeguards to protect innocent people. While it may delay a verdict for the guilty, it ensures the innocent are protected. The brothers are murderers regardless of their reasons. The only dissension to vigilantism is during the credits, and I wish the movie could have addressed that during the movie to add depth to the discussion. At no point except during the closing credits is it opposed.
The credits ask the real question. Are vigilantes good or bad? Everything we've seen would indicate they are awesome. During the movie we don't consider how vigilantes could be a problem. We're told they are problem solvers and the police love them. It's not until the credits we get some nuance and disagreement. The action is cool, but it's the question that sticks in your mind when this ends. I wish this explored that question more.
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