It’s been ten years since Troy Duffy’s Boondock Saints wreaked havoc amongst the criminal underworld of Boston, Massachusetts; leaving every low-life in the city either dead, or petrified; and now, after leaving the fair city for the greener (and Boston P.D. free) pastures of Ireland, The Saints are back, and once again trying to rid Boston of its undesirable criminal element, by any and all means necessary.
The first movie (which was actually Troy Duffy’s first writing and directing project) was completely, and almost unanimously, slammed by critics for it’s lack of plot, excessive violence, and overall lack of substance or meaning, and only grossed thirty thousand dollars during its initial cinematic run; which, even when coupled with the $220 thousand it made on the international circuit, fell far short of its $6 million budget; thanks to home releases however, The Boondock Saints has become something of a cult hit in the years following its original release, and has grossed $50 million since being released on DVD, and earned a belated sequel.
The new film begins with The Saints; Connor and Murphy MacManus (Sean Patrick Flannery; D-Tox; and Norman Reedus; Pandorum; respectively); working on a farm in Ireland with their father Noah (Billy Connolly, The X-Files: I Want To Believe), when they are informed that a priest has been executed back in Boston, in a manner mimicking the way in which they had previously dispatched some of the cities more virulent criminals, and as the brothers are less than happy with being framed for the murder of an innocent priest, they decide to return to the old hunting ground, and show Boston’s underworld just what retribution at the hands of The Saints looks like.
In a nutshell, that’s the entire story; the brothers get a little peeved that someone is sullying their ‘good’ name, hop on the first boat home, and track down every low-life they can get to, with no particular reasoning or logic, and shoot the bejesus out of them. Along the way they team up with Romeo (Clifton Collins Jr., Crank 2: High Voltage), a comedic Mexican fighter who’s got contacts in the underworld, and is in total awe of The Saints, they get investigated by Special Agent Eunice Bloom of the F.B.I. (Julie Benz, Dexter), and some old some old detective friends, while tracking down the mysterious old man that framed them.
The old man; a man known only as ‘The Roman’ (Peter Fonda, Ghost Rider); also has a history with The Saints’ father Noah, and a rather large plot element is exploring that backstory through flashbacks; which involve Noah witnessing his father’s brutal murder at the hands of local mobsters during the 50’s, and subsequently teaming up with ‘The Roman’ (who was the planner and weapon maker) to dole out his own style of Saintly justice.
It goes without saying that this movie is being, and will continue to be, panned by critics for pretty much the same reason that its predecessor was; it’s lack of substance and plot; as there is essentially no real story, aside from the fact that a couple of badass Irish-Americans decide to return to Boston and blow as many criminals to hell (using twin silenced pistols, and the odd prayer) as they possibly can in two hours (the film’s runtime, not timeline of events).
However, it’s also just as likely to succeed for exactly the same reasons that its predecessor did; having a huge amount of gunfire, in some pretty cool action scenes, characters that are completely ridiculous, but ultimately very easy to like, and throwing in a touch of revenge, and religious inclinations, as well as a fair amount of flare.
The action is good, and well shot, and often uses a comedic element to carry it through (showing plans as if they are really happening, like Shaun of the Dead, then watching everything go hilariously wrong during their execution), which only helps it’s sense of style and draw the viewers in more, because without the comedic element and unusual flare that is often added, the violence would seem boring and pointless; as the brothers aren’t really avenging anything this time around, and have no sense of purpose, they are simply wandering around the city mindlessly capping bad guys, and hoping to move closer to a big crime boss for the close; but as it stands the added flare and comedy actually makes watching The Saints in action rather fun.
Comedy is also a big part of the rest of the film (not just during the action sequences), although most of it is fairly witless and juvenile; consisting of swearing and jokes about one another being gay; but there are some truly funny instances, such as a sequence in which Romeo asks a janitor he has bound and gagged, to help him come up with a witty one-liner to say after he kills the bad guys in the next room, and other simple but funny inclusions, like seeing Romeo’s ‘cool’ guns, or a badass gangster wearing a pair of pink, European cut, speedos.
All of the actors fulfill their roles adequately, neither giving performances that are likely to win any awards, nor bumbling so bad as to be worth mentioning (nobody should have expected perfection from The Boondock Saints II, but the cast deliver what material they have more than satisfactorily); The Saints themselves are loud, brazen, and hotheaded enough to be convincing in their roles, and all of the supporting characters (from Judd Nelson, The Caretaker, to Peter Fonda) are cliched, yet perfectly fitting in the world of The Saints. The only disappointment, cast-wise, was Julie Benz, as despite doing a decent enough job of bringing Agent Bloom to life, her accent was annoying, and The Boondock Saints II is more of a step down for her, after her stellar work in Showtime’s Dexter, and Rambo.
One cast member who failed to disappoint however was Billy Connolly (aside from occasionally letting his Irish accent slip back into his native Scottish one), who is without a doubt the single best thing about this movie; as watching him work his magic as one of the coolest vigilantes that has been seen on screen for a long time; he might not be all that realistic (in fact none of the characters in the movie ever amount to anything more than a complete cliche), but he utterly owns every single scene that he is in, and when he goes head to head with some of Boston’s finest criminals and assassins, he is so engaging and charismatic, that it’s hard to picture the aging, hippy, comedian that lies behind the character.
In the end, The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day is really little more than the movie everyone expected it to be; it’s got the same issues that the first one had (namely a lack of plot or social relevance, as well as poor character writing), but also the same successes (a hell of a lot of stylish looking gunfire, and a couple of prayers thrown in for an interesting and stylish slant on the whole Punisher-esque mission), despite never quite reaching the dramatic and stylistic heights that it presents the first one as having through flashbacks.
Anyone that liked the first film should get a real kick out of watching The Saints return, but anyone who disliked the first is also just as likely to dislike this film, and for anyone who hasn’t seen the original, if you like films in the style of Crank, then you’re probably going to enjoy this movie.
Picture:
As the movie is only being released in the U.K. by way of a standard definition DVD it was never going to reach the heights of the American Blu-ray release in terms of picture or sound quality. However, for a DVD, the picture quality is very good, as the colours all contrast nicely, and pop off the screen rather well, as does the fairly high level of detail and nicely represented textures.
Quality does dip in certain scenes and sequences (sometimes as an intentional stylistic choice achieved by shooting with a different type of film, and sometimes through simple print inconsistency), but is overall fairly solid, and while there is an element of grain present throughout the entire picture, it’s never too much, nor too out of sync with the feel of the movie, and all in all the picture holds its own rather easily, as it contains no visible print errors whatsoever.
Audio:
The sound is equally good; coming by way of a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix that presents all of the films dialogue exceptionally well, and really shines in the numerous action-heavy sequences, where the solid and deep bass is ever present, and the rear channels become filled with gunfire, explosions, and other effects.
Pans and directionality are also rather impressive, and the whole mix is perfectly leveled, although it does have an extremely front heavy feel whenever the action drops out, and fails to attain demo quality sound, despite being generally very solid and strong.
Extras:
Boondock II comes to DVD armed with a plethora of extras that is sure to delight any fan. It includes two separate audio commentaries; the first of which includes director Troy Duffy, both of The Saints, and Billy Connolly (all discussing many aspects of the films production, their favourite films, and generally having a laugh with each other; it’s a fun and interesting commentary, although there are small periods of silence, and occasionally becomes difficult to hear when all of the participants are laughing and talking over each), while the second commentary includes Troy Duffy, and Willem Dafoe (and is extremely interesting, being both more serious and easier to listen to than the first, and delving much deeper into the production and development of the picture, with no gaps, and oddly enough, no Willem Dafoe, until almost exactly halfway through the commentary); two deleted scenes (one of which was a complete waste, and the other was right to be removed, but still an interesting and amusing watch); and a merchandising page (a simple picture of Boondock merchandise that is available; a shameless money grabbing feature, but one the fans may appreciate).
There is also an unedited conversation between Billy Connolly and Troy Duffy, which is a very interesting conversation, that is easy to watch and doesn’t fell forced in the slightest, and lets the fans realize just how the two felt about the film, and what making it was like for them, as does the behind the scenes featurette; which includes interviews from all of the major cast, as well as Troy Duffy, and the movie’s producers, and shows how all of the main action scenes were set up and filmed, and explains a good deal about the reasoning behind certain ideas.
Also included are a number of trailers; which comprise of a generic Blu-ray trailer, and ones for 2012, Defendor, The Stepfather, and Zombieland; and when added together with the other features makes for a collection worthy of fan praise, as it is fairly exhaustive, very informative, fun and easy to watch/listen to, and makes sure to thanks the fans for their involvement on numerous occasions. For any real Boondock fans these features are truly special, and what’s more, they won’t be too hard to digest for anyone who wasn’t too keen on the film.
The Bottom Line:
In the end, The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, is essentially what everybody thought it was going to be from the beginning; another Boondock movie; it’s got plenty of violence and a fair bit of panache to boot, but there’s only the most vague hint of a plot, giving The Saints no real sense of purpose or justification, other than the fact that it might be slightly fun to watch two Irish-American brothers run around Boston executing criminals, and using a family prayer, in a pretty cool way.
Neither the picture quality or the audio quality is demo worthy, although they are still very solid in their own right, and whilst watching and listening there is little to fault, and if the solid quality is coupled with the numerous, and exhaustive amount of, special features, it makes for a very well put together disc that doesn’t let the fans down one iota.
The film itself is nothing special; then again that’s what the majority of critics said when they saw the original (actually most worded it a little more harshly than that), and that film made $30 million in DVD sales even before the Director’s cut was released; so fans of the first film will probably lap it up, as the newest Boondock is just as stylish, just as action-packed, and just as fun as the first one, it’s just unlikely to really captivate anyone whose unable to take it as a tongue in cheek cliche, and expects something seriously gritty and dark.
But for anyone who can appreciate a very simple, easy to watch, fun, movie that doesn’t have much of a plot, and is a simple action fest with a few comedically filled gaps in-between carnage laden scenes, will definitely get something out of this; it’s the film that Boondock fans have been waiting ten years to see, and although it isn’t going to be remembered by many award panels, the chance to see Billy Connolly looking cooler than Shaft, running around Boston with twin, criminal dispatching pistols, is a chance that’s too good to pass up.
