Review of The Boondock Saints (1999) by Brett H — 10 Mar 2016

The Boondock Saints is my favourite movie of all-time, it literally has everything from comedy, action, crime, dialogue, violence, nudity, acting, story, directing; it is the whole package and I have adored this film since I first saw it WAYYY back in sixth grade! The story follows two Irish, and highly religious brothers who, after a chance encounter with some Russian thugs goes their way, both experience an epiphany from God to rid their Boston streets of crime by becoming vigilantes.

Pursuing them and adding to the insanity is a very gay, but also homophobic detective played brilliantly by Willem Dafoe who is at an impasse deciding whether or not he should stop these men who are doing what we all wish we could or join them.

This is a highly stylized, and unique beast of a film and trust me, it's not as self-serious as the plot synopsis sounds. The cast is outstanding with hilarious chemistry between Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flanery as the brothers, side-splitting comic relief from David Della Rocco as their buffoonish friend, Rocco and Billy Connolly is excellent as a wild-card assassin who just may have a link to our two protagonists.

Written and directed by newcomer, Troy Duffy, the film is dripping with style and utilizes a very clever technique of showing us the aftermath of each crime scene, and then revealing what went down through Dafoe's eyes as he pieces it all together.

As mentioned before, this film is HILARIOUS and endlessly quotable, largely thanks to Rocco's character who was written for the director's friend and a stuttering bartender with Tourette's who is affectionately named "Fuck-Ass" after his favourite outburst.

Initially a financial failure due to it being pulled from theaters after the Columbine massacre and bashed by critics upon release as being a Tarantino rip-off, it's become a genuine cult classic on DVD and I'm very much a part of that camp! The Boondock Saints is violent, funny, and very entertaining and I've seen it at least 15 times and I even have a poster of the brothers' execution prayer hanging on my wall! Fun fact: Ron Jeremy the pornstar has a supporting role as an Italian gangster.