Thursday, April 8, 2010

The Boondock Saints 2: All Saint's Day (2009)

THE BOONDOCK SAINTS 2: ALL SAINTS DAY
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: TROY DUFFY
OVERALL SCORE: 4.00/10


After spending years living quietly in the hills of Ireland, the MacManus brothers, Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) return to Boston to enact vengeance on the crime boss who had their ex-priest murdered.

The original Boondock Saints is about as polarizing a film as anyone I can think of. For me, is was hilarious in its own stupidity, lovable for its parody, and enjoyable for its style. A great guilty pleasure, one I've enjoyed revisiting on several occasions. So, when I heard a proper sequel was finally to be made and distributed, I began to get psyched up. What would Duffy bring to the table this time?

Well, the answer to that question is simple: nothing. Boondock Saints 2 is merely a hollow shell of its original form. A mimicry more than a continuation. It's as if Duffy's only talent is for trying to do the same thing he already did. Only one problem: this time, he just seems to have no direction.

The jokes are unfunny. The parody is bland, and uninspired. The action feels forced, and monotone. While our actors just feel happy to be in front of the camera. There's just nothing here. Dare I say, even by comparison, it's just a disaster of misguided efforts.

While the first was self-reflexive in its humor, this new one feels self-indulgent. Like a schoolyard bully proving his own awesomeness by doing the same trick over and over. Even in its most charged moments I couldn't care.

And the characters don't help either. I love Clifton Collings Jr., but his character here is a badly planned out Rocco replacement. While Julie Benz, as the Willem Dafoe replacement, suffers from horrid accent syndrome. And another character caught up in themselves.

There's just no real emotion this time around. It's all fabricated. The moral questioning, and questionable, nature of the original is lost in look at this spinning move moments that make the original seem tame. To be honest, I just couldn't stand what I was watching. It's bad on another level. The kind of movie you regret having seen, instead of walking away indifferent.

Despite the cult fanbase, Duffy's Boondock Saints 2 is everything you never wanted it to be, and less. It's a two hour car-wreck played in slow motion and bad design. Riddled with self superiority, but nothing to support it.

5 better thoughts:

JournoMich said...

I loved the original. I thought it was quirky and gruesome in the right places. A perfect end to the 90s. This sequel was a bad idea from the start.

Michele
SouthernCityMysteries

Sam Turner said...

A brave effort for sitting through this. I watched the original quite a while ago so I am struggling to remember exactly how good/bad it was but I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it. I have no plans to allow this in my house any time soon.

Unknown said...

I watched about twenty-five minutes of the original and then decided to stop. If not for Willem Dafoe's performance, I wouldn't have been able to stand even ten minutes of it.

Why the first movie is a cult classic I'll never know

Univarn said...

@Michele Yeah, I'd agree. I just so badly wanted them to have more to build off of it.

@intel It's the kind of movie you only remember if it really works for you, and the original did for me. This, yeah, stay away.

@julian for all the reasons I listed in my review :).

Simon said...

I just got the first one, but I haven't watched it yet. But now I will watch it just to make a point of not watching this one, and be appropriately outraged.

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