In Bruges

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In Bruges

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In Bruges

Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, Jordan Prentice, Thekla Reuten

Bruges (pronounced "broozh"), the most well-preserved medieval city in the whole of Belgium, is a welcoming destination for travelers from all over the world. But for hit men Ray (Colin Farrell) and K...( read more  read more... )en (Brendan Gleeson), it could be their final destination; a difficult job has resulted in the pair being ordered right before Christmas by their London boss Harry (two-time Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes) to go and cool their heels in the storybook Flemish city for a couple of weeks. Very much out of place amidst the gothic architecture, canals, and cobbled streets, the two hit men fill their days living the lives of tourists. Ray, still haunted by the bloodshed in London, hates the place, while Ken, even as he keeps a fatherly eye on Ray's often profanely funny exploits, finds his mind and soul being expanded by the beauty and serenity of the city. But, the longer they stay waiting for Harry's call, the more surreal their experience becomes, as they find themselves in weird encounters with locals, tourists, violent medieval art, a dwarf American actor shooting a European art film, Dutch prostitutes, and a potential romance for Ray in the form of Chloë, who may have some dark secrets of her own. And, when the call from Harry does finally come, Ken and Ray's vacation becomes a life-and-death struggle of darkly comic proportions and surprisingly emotional consequences.

Id: 10887969

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In Bruges Recent Reviews
  • binky013
    October 30, 2009
    binky013
    Mad-Eye Moody, Fleur Delacour, and Lord Voldemort -- all assembled again for a magical movie. Excellent. I kept thinking that Gleeson would fly at the end. Sadly, both he and my hopes for his miraculous salvation sunk equally as fast as the pull of gravity.

    Can there ever b

    ...( read more)e a happy -- a fairy tale -- ending for someone who kills an innocent person? I don't think so. At least not in the literature with which I'm familiar.

    Some very powerful performances in this hitman-buddy-road movie -- maybe the best thing Colin Farrell has ever done. Lots of funny scenes and lines in this one, and that helps a lot to offset the rather grim reality of the lives lived in this story.

    If I were directing this one, I'd lose the flashback to the killings in the church. It would be more interesting, for me, to have the details of that blundered hit be revealed bit by bit through snatches of dialog at key moments.
  • stuartb1234
    October 8, 2009
    stuartb1234
    Over rated and with the cast at hand expected more. But from reading interviews neither Farrell or Gleeson where allowed any flexibility in what they where doing. A pity as it could have been a good movie.
  • SirPant
    October 1, 2009
    SirPant
    What a refreshing surprise! This is one of the only films I've seen where the label 'Dark Comedy' is actually really fitting. I really liked it, in fact, it?s now got to be one of my favourite films! The only thing preventing this from being a 5 star film is that Ralph Fiennes is...( read more) too much like Ben Kingsley's character in Sexy Beast.
  • Galeocerdo
    August 26, 2009
    Galeocerdo
    A refreshingly unpredictable, darkly comic and curiously haunting odyssey of two hit men, the film is a mercurial amalgam of genres and emotions set in an appropriately strange, archaic fairy-tale city. It enjoys observing their rapport and unfolds from the conflicting attitudes ...( read more)of their respective characters. The cinematography is beautiful, painting a gothic picture of a city full of history and swathed in shadows, the performances are all sharp, and film itself is a memorable, original fable.
  • ebs90
    July 1, 2009
    ebs90
    Ralph Fiennes, Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell compose the axis of this black comedy, unfolding in the "fairy tale"-like Bruges. Probably one of the most amusing films I've seen lately, In Bruges is equal parts cruel and flat out funny, all while being based (oddly enough) on a...( read more) dead serious moral dilemma. I think it's admirable that a writer may have reached that balance in a way that feels fresh, and also that the actors may have adjusted so perfectly with the tone of the film. Speaking of tone, it's one of the most remarkable things about In Bruges: the cool palette ranges from blues to muted golds, music is used with measure, the pace is either draggy or frenetic for comedic purposes... It's a very entertaining film to go along with; above all, it's brilliant at being unpredictable.

    To me, the highlight is definitely the screenplay. Every scene is quite meticulous and there aren't many that could be discharged or replaced. In Bruges goes back to the old practice of having a shot actually last longer than the speed of light, and give space for body language and intelligent dialog (also testament to how long the actors can maintain the comedy without it falling sloppy). I could have listened to these foul mouthed, prejudiced characters for hours. However, they were far from typecast as typical "hitmen" or "gangsters", and were drawn as people, who may or may not appreciate Flemish art and beer, who also happened to kill people for a living. How it was laid-out, so matter-of-factly, and the context of Medieval tourism it was put into, had me smiling like a fool for the entire duration of the film.

    The humor is violent, loud, and very very dark. The more ignorant and irreverent the better.

    Much to my, and most people's, dismay, I didn't really think Colin Farrell was very superior to the other two actors. That isn't saying anything bad about his performance, since I consider them all to be great. Although Ralph Fiennes did steal some of the scenes.

    There's also a message about redemption, or the impossibility of achieving it... your call. Make sure not to miss it though, there are quite a few distractions :P
  • jgabriel92
    December 3, 2009
    jgabriel92
    A great plot, but it moves in a very slow way.
  • ingux
    November 29, 2009
    ingux
    Wow. Just wow. One of the most beautiful, and at the same time, funny, films I've ever seen... Just amazing. =D
  • MightySparks
    November 28, 2009
    MightySparks
    Since 2003, I have been a HUGE hater of Colin Farrell. And that's an understatement. I refused to watch anything with him in it and if I did every time I saw his face, my hand would go up to the screen to cover his face. When he was in magazines, I would scribble the hell out of ...( read more)his face. I dreamt about him annoying me and me covering my face so as not to look at him.

    So I put this off for ages (it was in the Top 250). One day I decided to just get it over with. After the first 5 minutes, I had taken my hand away from the screen and had forgetten it was Colin Farrell I was watching. I was extremely surprised to find that it was really amazing.

    It was funny, it progressed well and very surprisingly, Colin Farrell was amazing. I never thought I would ever say that, and as awesome as the movie is, it's still hard to admit that I like a Colin Farrell movie this much and thought he was good after years of hating the dude.

    Basically, all I have to say is SEE IT. It is seriously amazing.
  • scattergood07
    November 25, 2009
    scattergood07
    A very funny, and in someplaces, quite an emotional film. Seeing this makes me think that Farrell should do a lot more comedic roles, because he's just on eof those actors i can never take seriously, however i think this character suited him perfectly, and i really hope he survived.
  • ElCochran90
    November 24, 2009
    ElCochran90
    In Bruges had a drastically different atmosphere overall and even the fans of the genre could not perceive it. Those who could are complaining about the whole film except for Farrell's exceptional performance and the climax. The city of Belgium is used as an environmentally gothi...( read more)c background for unleashing a sensational brief dose of dark humor, a not-so-common screenplay and a powerful punch in the stomach right in the moment when we least expect it. It is different and somewhat audacious; the pace was perfect and the movie itself makes a spoof about the gangster honor code!

    74/100
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