November 3, 2009
Connor MacManus: You ready for this shit, my dear brother?
Murphy MacManus: Let's do some gratuitous violence.
A sequel to the basically direct-to-video cult action flick. This film brings back everybody involved from the first film to deliver to the fans that made the first...( read more) film such a hit, a film that caters to what they mostly enjoyed about it. This being said, there are a lot of good things in this film in terms of entertainment value, but the film is just simply very good as a whole. Basically, I'm glad that this film, which has been rumored to be being made for years, has finally come out and it exists, but I have no desire to see it again.
For the last 8 years the brothers, dubbed 'The Saints,' who went on a mission to kill the bad mobsters around, have been living with their father on a sheep farm deep in isolated Ireland. One day their uncle tells them that they have been framed for the murder of a Bostonian Catholic priest. The boys must return to Boston to not only clear their names but find the men who framed them.
After cutting their hair and shaving their beards, because that's what you do when you come out of retirement, the boys use a boat to head back to Boston. During this journey, the boys encounter a wanna be gangster, Romeo, played by Clifton Collins Jr., who knows of the boys past and wishes to help out.
Once the brothers land back in Boston, they start up their business in killing once again. Meanwhile, the son of one of the mob bosses they killed is worried by the reemergence of the saints. Also stirring things up is the protoge of Willem Dafoe's character from the first film, Eunice Bloom played by Juli Benz, who is just as smart as her mentor and is looking to catch up with the boys and their supposedly justified killings.
Gun Salesman: You look like you've seen one up close.
Two of the best elements to come out of the first film were the characters played by Willem Dafoe and David Della Rocco. Here, Dafoe is not around for his quality performance as an over-the-top gay FBI agen and Rocco died in the first film. Replacing Rocco with Collins Jr.'s character works for the most part, he is a character that if not played right, would be very annoying, but that wasn't the case and he is quite funny and a good replacement. Replacing Dafoe really hurts this film. The Bloom character that Benz has been given is not engaging at all compared to the extra jolt of life that Dafoe brought to the previous entry.
Noah 'Il Duce' MacManus: [Has a gun to his head] Easy boys! Daddy's workin'.
As far as the rest of the film goes, writer/director Troy Duffy doesn't do himself any favors by paying, in his own way, homage to Godfather Part II with what he thinks are clever flashbacks. I point this out specifically, because Duffy seems to want to go no-holds-bar in pushing all of the things he finds cool and inspirational into this film. Along with Coppola, you'll be sure to see plenty of John Woo, Tarantino, and the kind of tough guy dialog/humor that is made for a strong "guy" movie. Duffy has certainly gotten better as a filmmaker for the most part, even if this is is second film in ten years, but the emphasis on making a cool movie for the fans certainly overshadows having a solid story and characters.
Similar to the first film, the brothers are pretty much the least interesting characters. They certainly manage to be entertaining and funny when bouncing off the other characters, but I can tell you right now that I couldn't even remember their first names, let alone be able to tell them apart by personality. These guys are simply avatars for cool guys with shades and guns.
Also similar to the first film, the action is handled in a neatish kind of way. Most of it takes place a couple beats later. The situation will reach a climatic point where the shooting should start, only to have it cut to the aftermath/crime scene where the FBI agent lays out how everything went down. This worked well for the first film and its welcome here as well.
So there is fun gun play elements in this film. The humor shines well between the brothers, Romeo, and some other characters from the first film. There are good merits here. Still, the main problems come from the lack of that extra spark Dafoe provided in the first film. Another big flaw is how dragged out the story is. There is a point where a plot point is eliminated and in a better film or if this one had some elements tweaked, the movie would have ended, but instead it goes on for another twenty minutes, which really slows things down.
So I've certainly found elements of this film entertaining. I'm a fan of the first film as far as no-brainer action flicks with a couple better than average elements ("There was a fire fight!") go. There are some big laughs and two particular action scenes are pretty awesome in this film, but the chaotic nature of a film like this where fan service and "cool" factors are overemphasized do not give it the same charm as the first.
Connor MacManus: Romeo, were you crying.
Romeo: Yes. Tears of joy!
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