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BOONDOCK SAINTS

Two Irish brothers, Conner and Murphy MacManus (Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus), live the Irish-American high life, getting drunk in the pubs and hugging all their buddies, while in the day going about their rounds in a meat packing plant. One day a couple of toughs try to strong arm one of their favorite pub owners out of his establishment, and our buddies kick the crap out of those goons only to wake up the next morning to find the two goons getting ready to kill them. One thing leads to another and the brothers wind up killing, in self-defense, their assailants. Before the case can be solved by FBI agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe, who apparently modeled his performance after Gary Oldman in THE PROFESSIONAL/LEON), the brothers turn themselves in, where they are promptly freed, because, after all, it was self-defense.

Later the MacManus boys have a similar dream in the night and both start spouting biblical passages and decide to become angels of justice. One thing leads to another and before you can say NATURAL BORN KILLERS or LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, Ron "The Hedgehog" Jeremy shows up along with Billy "Yeah, I was on HEAD OF THE CLASS and best you'se shut up before my Scottish fist rams its way down your throat" Connolly, the U.K.'s top comic. What their respective roles are is the rental fee question.

Now, I think Willem Dafoe is just dandy; hell, that guy made WILD AT HEART, and his work with the Wooster Group - well, let me just tell you that the guy I know who has a friend whose cousin saw them perform called it "tremendously awesome." In BOONDOCK SAINTS he's given free reign as Smecker, the smarmy, theatrical, homosexual (a nod to KILLER CONDOM... hmmmm) FBI agent. Alas he plays it a little bit too much for comedy, and he's no comedian. Still, during director Duffy's more engaging dips into over-style, his dancing skills prove quite engaging, and, O.K., mediocre Willem Dafoe is still better than the best performance by Keanu Reeves (that would be RIVERS EDGE, by the way).

Sean Patrick Flanery acquits himself nicely of some of the stench of ADVENTURES OF YOUNG INDIANA JONES in his warm, fuzzy, "Aw, give me a hug and a pint of ale" performance as Conner MacManus. Norman Reedus is good as the other MacManus bro, Murphy, except for the times he loses his accent. (Maybe he left it in the car, maybe it's under the fridge, but wherever it is, it ain't in his mouth.) (Word of warning: both of these characters' accents, when they're working, are rather thick, so you will probably have to rewind a few key scenes just to catch all they're saying.)

Director/writer Troy Duffy throws in some flash, has a lot of gun pops and glass breaking, blood spurting from bodies and all that stuff that these young filmmakers like to put in their films, but there's just something too stilted in the delivery to make any real splash. As a writer Duffy seems more occupied with clever lines than plot structure. Smecker has a mental breakdown halfway into the film, but how this comes about seems rather unconvincing considering the man we'd gotten to know during the previous 30 or so minutes. Then there is the whole vigilante theme. Duffy's brothers are, for all intents and purposes, right in their actions, and for a few brief moments Duffy seems to question the reality of their beliefs - then just kinda says, "Hell to that, they're too cool to be wrong." Later he tries to cover his ass by having "man in the street" reactions to the killers, but after 90-plus minutes of seeing just how cool and right they are, what do we care what a bunch of overeducated Boston bores have to say?

As a Canadian import, via Lions Gate Films, I was immediately impressed with this DVD when it actually played (those crazy Canadians with their bacon and their "a'boots" ya' never know with them.) (It should be noted, however, that the film's U.S. distributors - Indican Pictures - will be releasing the disc in the United States soon.) The features are scant, but decent. The disc's packaging suggests a widescreen transfer with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, but it's actually 2.35:1. The print is good and the transfer is fine, as is the sound (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround). The techno/industrial score really comes out strong and so do the gunshots. The extras include cast and crew biographies, a trailer, and a plot synopsis that gives the entire story away.

BOONDOCK SAINTS does have its moments, but overall it's just too much style and too little substance. While it is definitely watchable and enjoyable on certain levels, a film that glorifies murder does leave a nasty taste in the back of the throat.