Review of In Bruges (2008) by Colm F — 29 Mar 2013
More serious, genuine and also paced more slowly than I'd guessed based on the trailer. Best to think of this as a very, VERY dark, extremely violent slapstick comedy. Or a serious drama about moral choices, that happens to be written and structured as a comedy, and decorated with bullets and blood.
It follows an aging hitman (Gleeson - great to watch as always) tapping his paternal instincts to try to save a younger version of himself (Farrell - very good, even if he seems to be channeling Fr. Dougal McGuire a lot of the time) from a soul-destroying life. And Ralph Fiennes gets to ham it up as a gorblimey gangster.
The characters are not tremendously deep - although Gleeson suggests depth in his - but the dialogue and action crackle. I can't remember a film since Reservoir Dogs so confident in just letting its characters talk and wisecrack on screen.
I expected this to be an enjoyable, smart-alec shoot-em-up - like Lock Stock... but with Irish accents - but that's not what McDonagh was aiming for. Instead it succeeds in being something different, and more than that.
This review of In Bruges (2008) was written by Colm F on 29 Mar 2013.
In Bruges has generally received very positive reviews.
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