Day 38 -- The Boondock Saints

Released: January 21st, 2000

Starring: Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, William Defoe

Writer/Director: Troy Duffy

Description: Fraternal twins set out to rid Boston of the evil men operating there while being tracked down by an FBI agent.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

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Movies are enjoyed for all sorts of reasons, and become popular in many different ways. The least of which is the quality of the film. You could like the actor, director, writer, and hell, even the cinematographer, or it could be made from a terrible novel (*cough* Twilight *cough*), or sometimes the lack of quality is the reason (The Room). While shooting a movie, there really is no way to know whether you will find your audience because the film is good or some other unpredictable element.

"Boondock Saints" owes it popularity in my circle of friends to the tremendous drinking game involved with it, and honestly, I've only seen this film twice without a drink in my hand. There are many different games depending on how drunk you want to get, but the most popular one is to drink whenever someone swears. This can get dicey during the one action scene about midway through the film.

Despite the fact that the game is sometimes the only reason someone will see the movie, there's an actual film with a plot and everything. Connor (Flanery) and Murphy (Reedus) McManus are on a mission to wipe out organized crime in the city of Boston. With their loose cannon partner, Rocco (David Della Rocco), the brothers kill about a dozen of Beantown most notorious criminals. The action is your standard fare for the time period, lots of slow motion and creative ways for people to die, including shooting a guy while he's masturbating at a peep show, which surprisingly is Ron Jeremy.

As the movie moves along there are several twist, such as the hitman hired to kill "the Saints" turns out to be their father, and FBI Agent Smecker (Dafoe) decision to join the brother on their quest to eradicate evil. If you take the writing (more the dialogue) for what it is, a typical high-energy, action movie with some comedic moments, then you do not get bogged down by some of the poor exchanges. But if you consider Duffy's work as mediocre then you are complete missing the point of the script.

 None of the encounters involve thought provoking dialogue or insightful soliloquies, but the overall issue of the film is where his genius lies. The Saints are rampaging through Boston on a murder spree, but their victims aren't random people, they are the low-life scum of the criminal underground. 

So are they justified in what they do or are they simply killers?

It is a deep and difficult question to answer, and Duffy tries to show that with the end credits consisting of testimonials from citizens of Boston. It definitely goes back to the idea that one man's vigilante is another man's terrorist. The men they kill, while evil in many respects, come from families and are not seen as bad men by their wives and children. 

And if vigilantes were allowed to kill those that they saw as evil, where would the line end. Criminals are easy targets, but what about the people that believe women who get abortions are evil, or to the even more extreme, those that participate in pre-marital sex. There's a reason why there's a justice system and it is not like the old west, and it is my belief that while the McManus brothers are bad ass, they are also criminals because they committed a crime that wasn't in self defense.

Even though I probably went a little deeper with this movie then I need to, I still enjoyed it. It's a fun action film that is great to watch with a few buddies, and possible enjoy an adult beverage in hand. It's not a classic by any stretch, but it does more things good than bad, so it passes my action film litmus test.

Rating: 6/10 -- Good popcorn flick, and definitely one that can be enjoyed with friends before or after a night out. But don't sleep on the thought provoking idea presented in the film. Defoe is outstandingly creepy like he should be.