The Boondock Saints

1999 action crime drama

Rating: 12/20

Plot: Two Irish brothers, Connor and Murphy, come home from the filming of their reality television series Meat Fights to discover that somebody broke their toilet. They scour Boston and seek revenge by finding the scum of the earth and making them not live anymore. A lowlife peon involved with the Italian mafia joins to "help" out. Hot on their trail is an intelligent, gay F.B.I. agent who likes opera and isn't afraid to get a little blood in his hair. When he finds out who's behind the rampage, he isn't sure whether to put a stop to it or help the brothers out.

There's nothing really new here, but it all adds up to something pretty damn entertaining. Lively weird characters, poetic violence, an attempt at some kind of moral backbone, and a fractured narrative work to create this humorously ultraviolent little movie world. There's some completely unnecessary music and a need for a re-edit on that script, but even when the story seems made-up-as-they-go, it's so over-the-top and entertaining that it doesn't really matter. Things do end on a too-stupid note unfortunately. Actually, things don't end in a satisfying way at all. Is there supposed to be a sequel? One ridiculous scene: The guy from Head of the Class is shooting at the brothers and their Italian friend while they're shooting back. Nobody is moving much at all. They shoot at each other for about twenty-five minutes but can't hit anything? What the hell?

Here I am: