The Boondock Saints (1999)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Troy Duffy

Writer:

Troy Duffy (written by)

Release Date:

19 November 1999 (Denmark)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Brothers. Killers. Saints.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Irish | FBI | Mafia | Twin | Justice

Cast

Willem Dafoe	...	Paul Smecker
Sean Patrick Flanery	...	Connor McManus
Norman Reedus	...	Murphy McManus
David Della Rocco	...	David Della 'Roc / Funny Man' Rocco
Billy Connolly	...	Il Duce
David Ferry	...	Detective Dolly
Brian Mahoney	...	Detective Duffy
Bob Marley	...	Detective Greenly
Richard Fitzpatrick	...	The Chief
William Young	...	Monsignor
Robert Pemberton	...	Macklepenny
Bill Craig	...	McGerkin
Dot Jones	...	Rosengurtle Baumgartener (as Dorothy-Marie Jones)
Scott Griffith	...	Ivan Checkov
Layton Morrison	...	Vladdy

Also Known As:

Mission des dieux (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, language and sexual content.

Runtime:

110 min | South Korea:102 min (cut)

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English | Spanish | Papiamento

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:R21 (cut) | France:-16 | Australia:R | Canada:18A | Germany:18 (JK/SPIO) | Japan:R-18 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | USA:R (edited for re-rating) | Finland:K-18 | Finland:K-16 (cut) | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Franchise Pictures

Trivia:

The line spoken by Il Duce as a narrator "When I whet my flashing sword and my hand takes hold in judgment, I shall take vengeance upon mine enemies and I will repay those who hate me" is in the Bible at Deuteronomy 32:41

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the opening church scene, the priest is reciting the Lord's Prayer but, contrary to Roman Catholic liturgy, the Lord's Prayer is recited well *after* the homily.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mackiepenny: Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, the glory, now and forever. Amen.

Movie Connections:

References Death Wish (1974)

Soundtrack:

Ahmedabab Theme

Great (but not always new) ideas - great realization. Entertainment in the tradition of "Pulp Fiction".

Preliminary remark: the comments refer to a pre-release version that was shown at the "Fantasy Film Festival" in Cologne, Germany, in August 1999.

"Boondock Saints" is a clever, funny, sufficiently violent movie with an overall high entertainment value. The story revolves around two Irish-American brothers and an excentric gay FBI agent (awesome: William Dafoe). The brothers - devout Catholics - who speak several languages fluently and work in a slaughterhouse find themselves equipped with money and weapons and subsequently start their very own crusade against the evil men of Boston - professional killers, mafia bosses and drug dealers. The agent is at their heels from the outset, but he has to realize that justice is on the side of the brothers...

This basic plot is the foundation for a highly energetic narrative: we get excellent and at times highly comic dialogues (with a high F***-word ratio), running gags, and lots of crazy situations and plot developments that are as absurd as they are funny. The action/shooting scenes are well-choreographed with a fine eye for the detail, but it's the main characters, their dialogues and developments around which the movie is develops rather than the action sequences.

On top of this, we get a fractured time/place structure that's already familiar from movies such as Kubrick's "The Killing" or Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs", but "Boondock Saints" takes it to new extremes - and thus it's fun to watch.

Of course, the characters are a bit shallow every now and then and one would love to learn more about their background, but that's only a slight criticism. Overall, and measured by its own intention, "Boondock Saints" is great entertainment. More, it doesn't need to be.