The brothers, Connor and Murphy MacManus (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus), with the help of their oddball Italian friend David Della Rocco (as himself) go on a killing spree against the Russian and Italian mafia bosses and hit men, launching their own private war against organized crime in Boston. Smecker and the police stay one step behind them, investigating each shooting and trying to solve the mystery of what they had originally thought was perhaps the first international mob war. However, as Smecker discovers more and more about the nature of the crimes the more he comes to admire the boys for doing things which the law does not allow him to do against recognized criminals. The brothers become so effective that the local mafia don decides to call in a professional, known as "Il Duce" who has a reputation for being ultra-effective and the best of the best at killing gangsters (they never suspect that amateurs could be hurting them so badly) and who is used only as a last resort -he is a "monster" an older gangster tells him. I won't give away the ending totally but sufice it to say that the don comes to regret his decision in a big way and the police, in that area of Boston anyway, come to believe that what the brothers are doing is not so bad after all.
This movie, of course, has been widely criticized as glamorizing vigilantism. I do not, though I would point out that the violence, foul language and brief nudity mean this is NOT a family film. As rough around the edges as they might be, the brothers stick together (family is important) -and I like that. They are staunch Catholics (not devout, but let he who is without...) -and I like that. They also decide to stop standing idle while evil men prosper and do something about the situation -and I like that. Being Irish doesn't hurt either, though I think it is my Texan qualities which make me like this movie the most. Texas has always been a frontier state and one where law & order have had a hard time reaching. Like most old fashioned Texans I have never been one to think that the law should interfere with justice. We are also rather notorious across America for having more executions than any other state -and that is something most Texans agree on, whether liberal or conservative; we believe in killin' killers. Putting aside whether you think vigilante action is right or not (and in this case I have no problem with it) at the very least I think everyone would agree that the type of criminal slime taken down by the MacManus brothers deserve no sympathy and no one should shed any tears for their demise.