By Ned Jordan
The Boondock Saints tells the story of two Irish immigrant brothers, Connor
and Murphy McManus (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus) living in
Boston and working in a meatpacking plant. When some Russian mobsters try
to shake down their favorite watering hole a fight ensues that goes badly for the
Russians, and they drop in on Connor and Murphy later at their apartment for a little
payback. After dispatching of the Russians in a creative manner, they
decide to take it upon themselves to become vigilantes, targeting local mobsters
and hoodlums for execution at their hands. They are soon joined by David
Rocco (David Rocco), an
old friend who works as a low level enforcer in the local Italian crime family,
and together their bloody executions soon draw the attention of the FBI and its
eccentric agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe).
The Boondock Saints is a movie that is all style over substance. The
gun battles are very creatively staged and the way they are presented is both
original and interesting. We're shown the aftermath of the gun battles and
as Smecker's investigative work unravels each event's sequence of events they begin to
play out for us. I found this to be an intriguing way to present the
gunfights, making them even more interesting to watch than if they were
presented as the events unfolded. This conceit alone makes the movie
recommendable to someone looking for something a little original and creative in
the genre, and it is also unfortunately the only thing recommendable about the
movie. The film just doesn't know where to go with this and the
underdeveloped story is brought to an end (I'd hesitate to call it a conclusion)
by a sequence of convenient and ridiculous coincidences. In fact, if you take a moment to think about things at any point in this movie, you'll find one plot hole after another. Just what makes these meatpackers such weapons experts and if justice is so important to them why is their best friend a mobster? The movie then tries to cover up for all of its shortcomings with a series of man-in-the-street interviews that play over the ending credits in which people debate the issue of vigilantism. This
ending just seems to be out of place here since the movie is a sequence of
stylized gunfights and never touches on the question of whether or not
vigilantism is ever justified. Watch it for the gunfights, but be aware
that you'll ultimately feel disappointed by the movie.
This release marks The Boondock Saints debut on Blu-ray, and this debut has
its good and bad points. First the good; the movie's transfer to HD is
excellent, with a sharp, detailed picture and top-notch digital sound.
This is how movie gunfights are meant to be heard. As for the bad, well
there's not much on the disc as far as special features go. If you already
own the DVD then you're not getting anything new beyond the upgraded picture and
sound, and if you love special features, there's not a whole lot here and to
love and what is here is all presented in SD.
Final Rating:
