The Boondock Saints
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Movie Reviews of The Boondock Saints
Movie Review: summary
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is about the work of God to rid the world of the corrupt by two Faithful Irish men living in South Boston, the MacManus brothers. The movie opens on St. Patrick's Day with the two brothers in a Catholic service. The priest states that we must all fear evil men and the indifference of good men. The brothers and their friends, including our comic relief and member of the Italian mob, Don Della Rocco, are at MacGintey's bar, owned by a character suffering Terret's Syndrome by the name of "Doc," when a trio of Russian crime syndicates demand the bar closed. (Apparently, the Russians are putting buildings up all over the neighborhood.) A bar-fight breaks out between the two groups and eventually ends in the MacManus brothers killing the Russians out of self-defense. They turn themselves into the police and are put into a holding cell so they don't have to face the media swarming the station. In the night, they are awakened simultaneously and receive a relevation that they are to "Destroy that which is evil, so that which is good may flourish." Accordingly, the rest of the movie is about these boys, with the help of their friend Rocco, killing the corrupt of South Boston.
The main concerns in contemporary North American life that Boondock Saints seem to be addressing is that many people have lost their Faith in God and have committed great acts against Him. "There are varying degrees of evil. We urge you lesser forms of filth, not to push the bounds and cross over into true corruption, into our domain. For if you do, one day you will look behind you and see we three and on that day, you will reap it. And we will send you to whatever god you wish" (MacManus brothers in the court scene). God has apparently ordained the MacManus men to judge the corrupt and remove them from His perfect world so that the good may thrive. "Never shall innocent blood be shed. Yet, the blood of the wicked shall flow like a river. The three shall spread their blackened wings and be the vengeful strike and hammer of God." The values stated by Murphy MacManus in the court scene, are the following: "do not kill, do not rail, do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace." (To 'rail' can mean many things including "to flow, or gush down, usually said of blood; to jest or to rally; or to brag or boast.")
The film is filled with murder and profanity. Overall, however, this movie is definitely one worth watching.
Movie Review: The Boondock Saints Is Pure Joy!
Summary: 5 Stars
The Boondock Saints (2000) is an awesome film. It was a straight to video film. I had never heard about it. Then this kid I knew kept talking about the "Boondocks". I was like, "What the heck is the Boondock Saints?" So he let me borrow it. I loved it and just picked up a copy two days ago. The characters in the film are played brilliantly. Willem Dafoe is perfect as the Task Force FBI Agent, Paul Smecker. Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus are awesome as Connor and Murphy McManus. David Della Rocco is hilarious as Funnyman. Billy Connoly does a terrific job as the mysterious convict, Il Duce.
So you are probably thinking what this story is about, huh? Here comes the plot. Connor and Murphy McManus are drinking at their favorite pub. Three Russians come in and a fight breaks out. Connor and Murphy go home, and the two remaining Russians try to kill the both of them. The two brothers waste the Russians. In the papers, the crime is held as a self-defense, not an act of crime. After the attack, the brothers feel that they get a calling from God. They feel as though they are instructed to kill all the lowlifes and thugs in the world. It will be for the good of mankind. So they set out to kill all the evil people with the help from their crazy friend, Funnyman. Agent Paul Smecker is on the case. He's an inept and gay cop who listens to opera while solving the cases. He questions the killers' motives. Are these men doing for good or just to kill? Pretty soon, the Russians send in Il Duce, a dangerous convict. He is forced to find the brothers and kill them. Yet, he may have ties to the Boondock Saints.
What a great movie?! I loved how they showed the aftermath of the murders. Then the agent would go step by step of how it was done. I thought it was a really cool idea. It worked very well for the movie.
Parents must be warned though. This movie is extremely violent and contains strong pervasive language. There is also some sexual content in the story.
Overall, this film is pure wonderful. It does contain a lot of violence, blood, language, and some sexual content. Yet, it is a plain independent masterpiece. I think the director Troy Duffy deserves a lot of credit for this movie. Go out and buy this! It's only $9.99 at Best Buy. That's awesome!
Final Grade : A
Rated R for extremely strong violence, strong pervasive language, and some sexual content/brief nudity.
G. Mike
Movie Review: What a great film!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Connor ( Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy ( Norman Redus) McManus are two fraternal twin brothers that are highly religious and are basically thought of as saints. However, thou shall not kill is the only commandment that they cannot keep. When a sadistic Russian mob starts to force its way into their South Irish Boston neighborhood, they know what they have to do. They set out to rid the streets of every gangster, criminal, and lowlife. In their eyes they are serving God's vengenance. As the bodycount rises, they become local heroes to the world around them. Paul Smecker( Willem Dafoe) is a gay FBI agent who is assigned to the case. While he agrees with the McManus brothers are doing, Paul is forced to do his job. He must now use his extremely unorthodox and brilliant methods of investigation to bring the Mcmanus brothers down. Before I watched this film, I was very skeptical because the movie came straight to video. However, "Boondock Saints" turned out to be one of the best films I have ever seen. If I had to describe the film, I would classify it as a modern day morality tale that is driven by vengenance and determination. The film features an outstanding mix of comedy and intense action. There are moments in the film when you will be laughing your head off. The dialogue in this film is first rate. There are other moments in the film however, where you will be shocked at the countless violence. The shoot out scenes are extremely well done. Perhaps one of the best things about the film, is the creativity that the McManus brothers use for some of their kills. The performances given in this film are suprisingly good!! Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus are outstanding as the McManus brothers. However, the best performance of the movie hands down goes to Willem Dafoe as Paul Smecker. It is the best performance of his career in my opinion. Watching Paul work is very entertaining. His methods are unorthodox, intelligent, and entertaining!
Overall, "Boondock Saints" is a great film. It features an excellent mix of comedy and action, the gunplay in this film is first rate, and the performances given from the actors involved could not have been better. The DVD is very affordable and has commentary by writer and director Troy Duffy, deleted scenes, and outtakes. The presentation of the film is also excellent and delivers top notch picture and sound quality.
Movie Review: Finally, an original action movie.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a surprisingly entertaining movie. When seen on the video shelf (which is how most people have seen it), this looked like just another fill-in, low-budget, cliche-ridden, violent, and amatuerish effort.... It is far from it. I can't remember being more favorably impressed with a movie that I'd heard absolutely nothing about.
A well-paced opening sequence introduces us to a pair of Irish brothers stuck on the low end of society. As the story unfolds, we note the light sprinkling of religious tattoos and an unexpected fluency in a wide variety of foreign languages. Where did these guys come from? Why are they special? These questions are answered slowly and fairly masterfully throughout the course of the movie.
Flashbacks and double-takes on certain events are used to move the plot, thankfully without any of the self-aware empty cuteness that you see posing as creativity in a lot of movies. After the first one, I was hooked and eagerly awaited the next. Some may dismiss this device as a Tarantino knock-off, but I thoroughly enjoyed the way the movie handed out tidbits of information allowing us to try to keep up with what the characters on the screen were experiencing. And I'll take a good Tarantino-esque vibe anyday. A captivating movie.
Troy Duffy is the writer/director on this grim little gem. That saves me the trouble of figuring out which job deserves more credit for an suprisingly thrilling piece of work.
Willem Dafoe gives a great performance as an experienced, eccentric Federal Agent. You'll be adding "-ology" to a lot of words after this movie, and smiling about it. Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus play the brothers. David Della Rocca puts in a frenzied but ultimately effective performance as their low-end mobster friend. Billy Connolly Rounds out the cast, putting in a too-brief appearance as the mob's hitman of choice.
BONUS UPDATE: The DVD's Director commentary track blames the Columbine shooting as the sole reason this film went straight to video. At the time, I took the director at his word for this, but the documentary "Overnight" paints a very different and much more interesting picture of what really happened to this film, and its flash-in-the-pan director/writer. (Yet there are rumors and reports of a sequel in the works)
Movie Review: Must have been amazing if they're making a sequel
Summary: 5 Stars
Especially to a movie that was never in theaters since it came out too close to the Columbine shootings. (Honestly which was ridiculous.)Moving on, my review of the movie of course is as biased as the rest. I loved it from beginning to end. It's hard to describe (in a worthwhile way) unless you see it yourself. The plot was told to me by a cousin and I really didn't want to watch it, but not even half the way through the movie I was in love with it, and bought my own copy days later.
The movie itself: Two fraternal twin brothers; Connor and Murphy MacManus who somehow speak 5 languages yet work in a meat packing plant get into a barfight one night, the same men bust down their door the next morning with the intent to kill Murphy outside (who really has the 'younger' brother mentality) while Connor (obviously he's the 'older' twin) is helplessly chained inside.
They -both- incidentally save each other from that predicament and later get 'baptized' and realize their calling in life is to "Destroy all that which is evil...", "So all that is good may flourish.".
The chemistry was amazing, with the brothers most of all. Arguably the bond Connor and Murphy shared is what made the movie stick.
The movie should really be watched, anyone's reviews/comments be damned. Much, much more good has been said about it than bad and has developed a HUGE cult/word of mouth/etc. following by only coming out on video DVD and only publicly advertised when done so.
You really should at one point check out the Special Features of the DVD, they will tell you a lot. Especially the 'Ma calls form Ireland' Deleted Scene. It tells you about how their father left, how the brothers are actually fraternal twins and some other facts, amusing and not.
Troy Duffy's audio commentary helps out a lot. Especially to the smarks with idiotic questions that didn't watch the movie close enough. Heh. ;) He'll tell you the real meanings behind some scenes (Like the "baptism") and what his 'vision' was.
It was a low budget movie remember so it's not like everything is perfect and all is explained and pretty like that of Armageddon and Titanic here. ~_^
Overall: Great movie, solid performances, shocking/funny/dramatic all at nearly perfect times. Check it out, really is worth it. Also great for any fan of Willem DaFoe, Norman Reedus or Sean Patrick Flanery.