The Boondock Saints (1999) Review:

How often does a viewer get a chance to see an Irish character on screen that fights for good? There have been Irish actors who portray other ethnic characters but not Irish characters. It's actually kind of strange too because there are several Irish actors that could have been casted to use their real accents. Instead, two Americans star as the main leads. Whatever, I can deal with it.

The MacManus twins

Anyway, the story is about two fraternal twins, Connor and Murphy MacManus, played by Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus who take it upon themselves to start their own crusade of killing bad guys just because, they're bad guys. It's a cool idea, who doesn't want the evil people off the face of the world? But here's where I get confused. It never is explained to why these boys decide to do this. Was there an event that happened in their past that made them change? Or was it self driven through pure excitement for the sake of killing? I don't know.

I do give credit to Flanery and Reedus though for their acting. Because they're brothers, they will tend to act like brothers. For example, they do things synchronized and they tend to bump heads. That's fine because it allows them to become more believable to the audience. Their accents are also fairly well done for Americans too. But the weird thing is that even after all that, I really didn't care much for the duo. Accompanying them is an unstable Italian called Rocco played by David Della Rocco. Rocco makes his character unstable by giving him emotional spikes of anger and happiness. This is goofy and should create charm but for me, I didn't get attached to him either.

Willem Dafoe as FBI agent Paul Smecker

Following their trail of hits is FBI agent Paul Smecker played by the usually chaotic Willem Dafoe. What people should like about Dafoe's performance is how well he is able to use his deduction skills to show not only his fellow cops but the audience as well to how the MacManus brothers carry out their business. It's really cool how he can figure that kind of stuff out. What was even more interesting was how the scene was setup. First the audience will see the aftermath, then Smecker will go about what he thinks happened and then a flashback will occur showing how the event actually happened. It will keep audiences locked to the screen.

However, one character I found the least compelling was Il Duce played by Billy Connolly. There was a tiny back-story about him but it still never explained to how he seemed all too familiar with the MacManus brothers. That also wasn't explained well. Lastly, the music was rather average. Jeff Danna, who isn't a novice to this kind of job mixes rock with electrosynth and opera. In places it works and it others it doesn't which left me feeling indifferent about the film as a whole. The opera part I felt was a little too much. It should satisfy viewers but not to the highest degree of entertainment.

These Irish mercenaries are cool to watch in action along with their detective counterpart played by Dafoe. Just don't expect much explanation for anything when it comes to characters.

Points Earned --> 6:10