Review of The Boondock Saints (1999) by Wade B — 19 Feb 2013

The Boondock Saints is a deep, gory, tale about two Irish brothers (Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus) that are pursuing all of the Russian Mob throughout all of Boston. They believe that they are the saviors of all the Boston population from the mob and justify their actions through religion.

All along their path of destruction they are pursued by a federal detective Paul Smecker(William Defoe) who throughout his investigation is an artistic genius. Although this movie is very easy to like, it is wildly ridiculous and has a lack of script.

Two men who have basically no mob connections have their first assassination fall into their laps because of a bar fight. The story line of the movie is so simple and disconnected that it gets to be very difficult to comprehend.

There is way too much flash and not enough substance to fill the script. How does a man that was in prison for 25 years in Russia, that hadn't talked to anyone, known exactly when and where to find the MacManus brothers.

And how did this man not recognize these twins considering they are his sons and vice versa? How did the detective not know it was the twins after they both confessed that they killed the first two Russians before making a hit on anyone else? There are too many questions left unanswered.

This, in turn, leads to a lack of substance. When I was watching the fighting scenes I got the feeling that I was watching a scene from a cartoon. It was always very convenient how everything would go down.

First, as they enter whatever room the victims would always sit and watch everyone else die before they attempted to move. This gave a much staged feel and made the acting very unbelievable. One thing however I did find intriguing, Detective Smecker was by their sides throughout the fight scene and you could see him figuring out how the killing went down.

Director Troy Duffy made this movie interesting to watch and gives detective Smecker a quirky taste with his ability to seek out every bit of evidence with an artistic, humorous, and slightly crazy manner.

Without this type of character in the movie I believe that the whole thing would have been viewed as a constant gun showdown between "good and evil" (not that it wasn't) with an intelligent, boring, detective.

Not only did he essentially narrate the movie but he gave the movie context. The MacManus brothers ' only dialogue was either drunken yelling or their prayer in every other scene. You must remember that although there is a lack of script in the film it doesn't come with a lack of thought.

There are many moral obligations that are in question here that can tug at the viewer and make them think of the difference in right and wrong. The religious aspect of the movie gives the two Irish assassins a clean card, it seems.

This in today's society can be seen in many cases around the world, which puts a whole new spin on the film. Although, overall, this film insults the viewer's intelligence with its shallow, elementary, level storyline it is a very fun watch if you can handle all of the gore that comes along with it.

This movie would be more aimed at those who are looking for a high speed, action based, time killer. From the killing of supposed gang members, the constant swearing, and the occasional nudity, it can be very vulgar and probably isn't a good movie to pull out on family night.