← Back to Reviews
in
Easy to see why this has become a bit of a cult favourite as it's certainly a fun, irreverent romp with it's tongue never out of it's cheek and a raft of eminently quotable lines tossed in throughout. It's not all rosy though as the dialogue that is so great in places is not so good in others and some of the direction and editing naturally draws comparisons to a certain other director who tends to execute both better. Willem Dafoe gives a standout performance as FBI agent Smecker though and imo whilst the 'saints' may be the central characters it is his role that helps elevate the film above those little niggles.
Sadly the main bugbear of this movie for me is not one that can easily be overlooked and that is the supposed Irish accents of the two leads are dreadful (Connolly's is no better either). Whilst it may not even be noticeable to other nationalities it does make this a difficult film to bear at times - in fact my wife couldn't make it past fifteen minutes when I first attempted this last night as they were simply too annoying to her.
It's a fun film and I can fully understand it's appeal, just a shame for me that the leads, who are both of partly Irish ancestry themselves, couldn't have been written as just that and use accents that come more naturally to them.
The Boondock Saints (1999) - Troy Duffy - +
Easy to see why this has become a bit of a cult favourite as it's certainly a fun, irreverent romp with it's tongue never out of it's cheek and a raft of eminently quotable lines tossed in throughout. It's not all rosy though as the dialogue that is so great in places is not so good in others and some of the direction and editing naturally draws comparisons to a certain other director who tends to execute both better. Willem Dafoe gives a standout performance as FBI agent Smecker though and imo whilst the 'saints' may be the central characters it is his role that helps elevate the film above those little niggles.
Sadly the main bugbear of this movie for me is not one that can easily be overlooked and that is the supposed Irish accents of the two leads are dreadful (Connolly's is no better either). Whilst it may not even be noticeable to other nationalities it does make this a difficult film to bear at times - in fact my wife couldn't make it past fifteen minutes when I first attempted this last night as they were simply too annoying to her.
It's a fun film and I can fully understand it's appeal, just a shame for me that the leads, who are both of partly Irish ancestry themselves, couldn't have been written as just that and use accents that come more naturally to them.