THE BOONDOCK SAINTS (1999)

THE BOONDOCK SAINTS (1999)

Tagline: Thou shalt not kill. It's the one commandment they cannot keep.

(Action, Crime, Thriller) [R]

Do not kill. Do not rape. Do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace.

In this one, we’ve got two Irish brothers who get in a fight at a bar and end up killing two mafia dudes. It becomes apparent right away that no one likes the mafia in this city, so they basically get out of having any jail time just due to how popular what they did was. It doesn’t take long before they decide it’s God’s calling for them to start taking out the trash so to speak wherever they find evil. The detective that originally booked them for the first killing, finds himself slowly gravitating towards their mission. Meanwhile, the mafia has hired the most efficient killer they could find to take out the two brothers, but there is something about the two brothers this assassin doesn’t know. 

One thing I found very interesting about this movie is the way the story is told. In most every case the killings done by the brothers are shown after the fact, then the detective is going back in his head and retelling his fellow investigators how it occurred. The movie isn’t telling itself backward, it’s just going backward to move forward at times. This aspect makes the story really interesting in that it plays out more like a mystery movie might than a full-blown action film. I am actually kind of shocked at the lack of films under director Troy Duffy’s belt. He directed both Boondock Saint films and not much else. 

The movie also has a good deal of storytelling but unfortunately fails to give very much background on the main characters themselves. So instead of that, the audience is treated more to the “reasons” behind what they do and the relationships they have that lead them there. We also get a solid base of really interesting characters. This formula was so successful this movie hit cult status pretty quickly. THE BOONDOCK SAINTS might be the most Quentin Tarantino film of the non- Quentin Tarantino films in the sense that it’s edgy, violent, and brash, but unlike a lot of Tarantino films, it doesn’t feel gratuitous and doesn’t contain scenes that are just there to try and be artsy or pretentious. 

There are a lot of strong performances in this movie, one of which was from Willem Dafoe (who plays Paul Smecker the main detective), and is super versatile even though I am not super fond of him as an actor. This might also be Norman Reedus (who played Murphy MacManus) best performance, THE WALKING DEAD included. Sean Patrick Flanery (who played Conor MacManus) was also good but he’s probably been more “stretched” in other roles. David Della Rocco was fine playing Rocco, but I think I was more annoyed with his character than I would have liked to be. 

The downside of this thing for me is that the “F” word, the big one. The queen mother of dirty words and words with the same meaning is mentioned 246 times. I don’t mind cussing in movies, but man this script is a bit overboard in that department. It shows that Tony Duff was a first-time writer, but apparently, the screenplay was inspired by seeing a drug dealer taking money from a dead person near where he lived. Clearly, the act upset him quite a bit and this movie was an outlet for that. I am also not claiming this is the worst offender in the profanity department, it’s just something to be aware of. 

Because of the interesting directing style, the vicarious and even outrageous vigilante story, and the performances, this one still gets a solid 6 out of 7 out of me. This is a movie I own if that tells you anything, but this is NOT for everyone and by today's standards definitely has it's "offense points". 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless.