Released to little if no fanfare at the US box office, writer/director Troy Duffy's first cinematic venture tanked horribly which is a shame as it's really very good, in an amateurish these-guys-were-having-fun kinda way. A reasonable cast, nominally headed by Dafoe, shines in a light-comedic crime flick with a twist, as two heavily religious Irish brothers (Flanery and Reedus) are thrust into the middle of mafia shenanigans after a bar fight they're involved in turns serious. Extricating themselves from that near-deadly situation leads them onto a novel life choice: they decide to hunt down and destroy all the 'evil' men in Boston, pitting themselves against both the Russian and Italian mafia as they exact God's will on Earth.
The film, though hardly the most serious of the new crop of violent crime movies, rises above them in a way due to it's novel and thought-provoking central idea: that the brothers are committing just killings and are supported and even aided by both the public at large and the local Police force. The twist near the end, though hardly Fight Club-esque in it's shock, caps an interesting 90 minutes in which many local mobsters are blown away, a porno booth is trashed and a cat meets a grizzly, though thankfully quick, end. The brothers, through a combination of luck, intelligence and the blessing of God himself it seems, manage to go about their business and stay one step ahead of the cops, led by flamboyantly gay FBI agent Paul Strecker (Dafoe).
While it can be forcefully argued that Duffy's directorial style is simple and often rushed-looking there is no doubting his originality in many respects. His dialogue is reminiscent of Kevin Smith at times, foul-mouthed and exceptionally witty. Practically every line Dafoe and David Della Rocco (the brothers friend and comrade, er, Rocco) spout is heavily tinged in acid sarcasm, though the actors themselves must take a considerable share of the credit. My highest accolade though must go to his original use of the shoot-outs. While many other films would show you the gun battles after all the build-up work Duffy prefers to see them placed afterwards, as seen through the eyes of the brilliant Agent Strecker. This break in the traditional narrative structure is refreshing and allows Duffy to superimpose Strecker into the action, going through exactly what he believes happened. Slow-mo is used unsparingly and to great effect, you can literally see the bullets rip through bodies and the casings fly off to the sides.
The film has it's odd points, certain events and characters the brothers know or meet seem highly coincidental to the storyline and one can only think that a bit more time would have ironed those creases out and produced a truly slick black comedy/actioner in the mould of Reservoir Dogs or Lock Stock... It's still well-above average though, helped considerably by the light touch of Duffy and the casting of Flanery, Reedus and Dafoe, and Connelly in a cameo role. |
