The Boondock Saints (1999)
Is it weird that I’ve known about this movie for a while but only watched it recently? I have no reason for not watching it, except that maybe I put it off to see new releases. I don’t know.
Whatever the reason, it was available on Netflix, so my spouse queued it up. I had no expectations going into the movie. Like I said, I knew about it, but I didn’t know about it. I knew Norman Reedus was a main character (and boy, he looks so young!), but that was the extent.
The Boondock Saints is a bizarre movie. I enjoyed it, but it left me with my eyebrows furrowed and wondering what the hell was going on. The plot is simple enough: two Irish brothers are trying to clean up gangs in their neighborhood, particularly of the Russian variety. They take the law into their own hands to do so, but they only target people they believe really deserve to die.
They aren’t professional killers, and luck plays more on their side than skill does. But because they are fighting for a noble cause, they are victorious.
They hook up with a friend who has ties to the Russian mob as a low-level bag guy, and that’s when things go awry. The friend believes that he should have a say in who gets killed, and that’s leads to trouble.
Throughout the movie, an FBI agent played by Willem Dafoe is after them, but he has a crisis on conscience about whether or not he wants to arrest them because he sees that they are fighting the good fight. They are also decent human beings. They just want to have a safe, friendly neighborhood.
There are some incredibly memorable lines in the film, and there are some weird scenes with Dafoe’s character trying to recreate crimes. The characters are fleshed out and easy to sympathize with, so when the sh*t hits the fan, I felt sorry for them.
All in all, it was an enjoyable movie with some weird parts. I’m glad I finally watched the film, and there’s apparently a second movie, but I haven’t seen that one yet.
Anyone else have any thoughts on The Boondock Saints?
