Review of The Guard (2011) by Kevin C — 23 May 2012

Gleeson is always good right, well he's better in this. If you loved 'In Bruges' download this immediately. 96 minutes where you won't stop laughing.

The Wild West parallels are evident in the score, but our hero is a spectacular lone gunman/policeman. Prone to drugs, booze and the ladies. But he still has a knowledge of art, literature, film and Daniel O'Donnell! And boy does he have the gift of the gab, and the gift for infuriating his superiors at every conceivable opportunity. I guess you could argue the plot therefore struggles to keep up, but i'm willing to forgive this.

So you have a buddy cop movie with so many memorable one-liners, and a great rapport between Gleeson and Cheadle. A disappointment is perhaps that Strong is under-used. So its hugely entertaining film, but with flaws. However the sadistically funny opening scene is worth the film alone, and the humour levels never dip.