The Boondock Saints review

 Number 397 on the top 1000 films of all time is the vigilante crime-drama 'The Boondock Saints.'

Connor (Sean Patrick Flannery) and Murphy McManus (Norman Reedus) are Irish twin brothers living in Boston. After a call from God, they become vigilantes determined to rid the city of its dark, sleazy underworld. They are later joined by their friend Rocco. Meanwhile, FBI agent Paul Smecker (Wilhelm Dafoe) is tasked with tracking them down.

I hated the 2006 film Running Scared, because it had the appearance of being written, shot and edited by a twelve-year-old boy. Whoever this twelve-year-old boy was, he was evidently warming up on the Boondock Saints.

The Boondock Saints  was released at an unfortunate time; the Columbine High School Massacre had only happened two weeks before. Due to its violent nature, the Boondock Saints was given an extremely limited release where critics absolutely crucified it. However, it also gained a cult following, hence its inclusion on this list.

I'm with the critics though. I thought the Boondock Saints was so over-the-top that it was just plain ridiculous. It was just scene after scene of over-exaggerated gun fights tied together by the flimsiest of narratives. Vigilante justice is a great idea to explore. If done right, it can be brilliant e.g Dexter Morgan or Batman. But there needs to be a good reason for why the vigilantes are doing what they're doing.

The twin brothers decide to become vigilantes because of ... reasons. No, sorry, it's because they had a call from God and they're good Catholic boys. That's it. Unlike Dexter or Bruce Wayne, they don't witness their parents being murdered in front of them as children. It didn't help that the dialogue was cheesiness personified down to the weird Catholic prayer the brother recited, before they killed their victims. 

Plus, the brothers are two rough-around-the edges rogues. Why then was there a scene of them speaking fluent Russian, French, Spanish and Italian and German? As Smecker states, they're two un-educated rogues working in a meat factory. I don't buy they would speak any other language than English and Gaelic.

I mentioned Dexter earlier. Sean Patrick Flannery went onto have a supporting role in that. Norman Reedus later starred in the Walking Dead. Both are good actors, but they were hampered with a lousy script. Plus, their Irish accents were incredibly inconsistent.

Wilhelm Dafoe was also very over-the-top as Paul Smecker. It was like he was given the brief of odd-ball, maverick detective and allowed to run away with it. From the finger guns to examining crime scenes while listening to Italian opera to the closeted homosexuality to the river-dancing and appearing in drag, it was way too much. Part of this was down to Dafoe and part of it was down to writer/director Troy Duffy.

We've come to the twelve-year-old boy in question. Troy Duffy was a complete novice to screen-writing and directing. He had previously worked as a night-club bouncer. The Boondock Saints was his first script. And you can see he was still wet behind the ears. From the cheesy script to the two-dimensional characters to the gratuitous violence to the weird dropping of the n-word, it was a poor directorial debut. Obviously, I wouldn't do any better, but Duffy still had a lot to learn.

He also employed this weird device of explaining something that happened and then showing it in a flashback. This was plain confusing. A linear, straightforward narrative would have been far more cohesive.

Finally, we've come to Billy Connolly who played Il Duce - a legendary hit man. Believing Rocco to be behind the murders, the Italian mob scheme to have Il Duce released from prison. He's the only one strong enough to beat Rocco...apparently.

Billy Connolly was very much playing against type - he was also delighted to do so. But as a comedian, I had trouble believing him as a badass, unstoppable hitman. His faux Hannibal Lecter introduction did nothing to help things either.

I did not enjoy the Boondock Saints. It was an excessively violent, over-the-top affair that had no business being on the top 1000 films of all time.

The Town review

 Number 729 on the top 1000 films of all time is Ben Affleck's crime-drama 'The Town.'

As well as directing, Ben Affleck stars as Douglas "Doug" Macray, a bank-robber who is looking to go straight. After his latest heist goes wrong, where his crew Jeremy "Jem" Coughlin (Jeremy Renner,) Albert "Gloansy" Macgloan (Slaine) and Desmond "Dez" Elden (Owen Burke) take bank manager Clare Keesey (Rebecca Hall) hostage before releasing her later, Doug begins keeping track of her. The two eventually fall in love. But for Doug to escape the life completely, he has to do one last job as ordered by local crime boss Fergus "Fergie" Colm (Pete Poselthwaite.)

What followed was a largely generic and banal action-thriller spearheaded by a largely wooden performance by Ben Affleck. Since starting this list, I've seen him in a few films, like Argo, which he also directed. And I would argue he is better as a director than an actor. It doesn't matter whether the role is a rough-round-the-edges hero or a bad boy turning good, he isn't very expressive. He just always seems to have a permanent scowl on his face. And there isn't a whole lot of emotion there. There are plenty of emotional scenes, or scenes that should be emotional, but Affleck couldn't really carry them off.  And since I wasn't invested in him as a character, I wasn't really invested in the storyline. Although he was nominated for Best Actor Bafta for his role in Argo, so what do I know? 

Affleck's lack of chemistry with Rebecca Hall didn't do much to help things either. Also a brief note on Rebecca Hall's accent. What was up with that? She's English, but at times it sounded like she was switching back and forth between English and Bostonian.

Much more convincing was Jeremy Renner. He plays Doug's childhood best friend and fellow bank-robber Jem Coughlin. Unlike his friend, he has no desires of leaving the life behind which sets up some nice conflict between the two. Renner was far more charismatic to watch and his storyline was more compelling. And it's a shame Poselthwaite was so under-used. He's a great actor so he should have had a far greater screen-presence. 

This wasn't a film I enjoyed very much if you didn't already guess. Sure it was watchable enough, but Affleck's wooden performance stopped it from achieving any true greatness in my eyes.