All the reviews I read of The Guard when it was released earlier in the year compared to another film starring Brendan Gleeson, In Bruges, a film I still haven't seen, even though the world and it's uncle have been singing it's praises since it came out. I've been meaning to, honestly, but just never got round to it.
From what I know about In Bruges though, is that it appears that the only similarity between that and The Guard is the copious amounts of fruity language used. Other than that, they seem totally different apart from Gleeson.
In The Guard, Gleeson plays an Irish police sergeant, Gerry Boyle, who has a somewhat out there persona. He's quite the in your face guy, and he does things his way. Now that may bring to mind a big action movie cop like a John McLane, but when I say he does things his way, I mean has his days off when he's supposed to have them, even with a huge murder investigation open, as he's seeing some escorts in a hotel room!
After a seemingly occult killing in his Irish quiet town, Boyle attends a briefing by FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle), where the truth about the killing begins to present itself. Blackmailing, killings and corrupt cops are all involved in the ensuing mess that Boyle and Everett have to get to the bottom of.
The Guard is easily one of the funniest films of the year. The writing from director John Michael McDonagh is brilliant, and nary a scene passes without some hysterical dialogue. Much of the laughter comes from the comparisons to the buddy cop scenario, Doyle's refusal to look at Everett's baby photos is a particular highlight ("The only time a baby doesn't look like every other baby is when it's a really fucking ugly baby, so unless you're about to show me a picture of a really fucking ugly baby, I don't want to see it")
Also having an absolute ball this is the ubiquitous Mark Strong as one of the drug smugglers, Clive Cornell. Strong also gets some killer dialogue even in the bad guy role ("When I applied for this job of international drug smuggler, it didn't say anything about heavy lifting").
But as well as all the laughs, The Guard has real heart as well. The scenes between Boyle and his Mother (Fionnula Flanagan) are as touching as anything you're likely to see this year, and the films final scenes are equally powerful. It's a rare thing for a film to be so achingly funny and so heartfelt at the same time, but The Guard pulls it off effortlessly.
The more I write in this review, the more I realize I really don't have anything negative to say about it. Great direction, great acting, great performances from everyone and it doesn't outstay it's welcome for a second. I think I may have to dish out for the full score for this one. See it as soon as humanly possible!
*****
One of the best films of 2011. Funny, touching and just brilliant all around! The highest of recommendations!
No comments:
Post a Comment