If you went to college in the last 8 years, chances are you've seen The Boondock Saints. In fact, chances are you or a friend of yours went through a phase where you lauded it as the "most awesome movie ever". Maybe you've since come down from that Troy Duffy-lovin' cloud - maybe not. Personally, there was a time when I loved Boondock Saints for what is was: a trashy Saturday afternoon action flick that acted as an odd tribute to action flicks everywhere.
When you first see Boondock Saints, don't worry if you're initially blinded by this inexplicable love for the comedy or characters. Relish it. Truly enjoy it while it lasts because Boondock Saints doesn't get better with each viewing, it has the unfortunate tendency to get a little bit worse each time. Whether you're able to watch it 100 viewings down the road depends entirely on how much you revered it after that initial viewing. Me? Hell, I wrote a paper on the Boondock Saints my freshman year of college discussing how it viewed heroism. Take from that what you will.
Agent Smecker (Willem Dafoe) has an odd case on his hands. With the Mafioso population of Boston dropping dead left and right, Smecker's best lead in the case is a pair of brothers Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) McManus. The case seems pretty open-and-close save for one issue: Smecker doesn't mind that the McManus brothers seem hell bent on killing the scum of Boston. There's even a part of him that would like to help. Caught between his responsibility to his job and moral code, Smecker tracks the efforts of the McManus brothers and their friend Rocco (David Della Rocco) as they seek out the seedy underbelly of Boston and wax it clean of the chest hair we call criminals. Enter their true opposition: Il Duce, a psychotic killer who gets his jollies by killing wiseguys.
Boondock Saints isn't without its flaws. The writing, characters and plot feel riddled with clichés at every turn, the cinematography is mediocre at best and the entire film is tinged with the arrogance of the director. You'll enjoy it the first few times around but the less you watch it the more you'll appreciate it.
Willem Dafoe and Billy Connolly make Boondock Saints worthwhile. Dafoe's performance goes so over the top while Connolly has to do little more than look menacing - but it's all about his presence. As Troy Duffy says on the audio commentary, "Billy Connolly looks like God" and it's true. The man reeks of age and salty tales...like...God? With Dafoe we get an exaggerated performance that helps us to understand why he's in the movie at all: this was fun for him, nothing more.
Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus perform well enough when on screen, but the addition of David Della Rocco makes some of their scenes unbearable. Troy Duffy thinks David Della Rocco is an acting gift from God. The rest of us see him for the loudmouth, talentless actor that he is. Our disagreement on Della Rocco's credentials wouldn't be so important if Rocco didn't seem to be in every scene. I think I can fairly say that the average person watching wants Rocco to get capped in the first 30 minutes. He doesn't. Shame.
David Ferry, Brian Mahoney and Bob Marley comprise the team of detectives struggling to get through Smecker's "How to Solve Crimes 101" crash course. These three may be the funniest part of the film. While the lines of Flanery and Reedus were meant to be humorous, it's these three who have the best interactions. But please, if you haven't seen this yet, refrain from ever making a "symbology" joke. It was never funny.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Did you buy Boondock Saints on DVD? Guess what - you have 60% of the extra features offered on the new Blu-ray release. The Blu-ray has the Theatrical and Director's cut as well as a smattering of old and new extra features. Now if you're a diehard fan these new features might be enough to entice you into double dipping - we'll see.
Old stuff:
Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Troy Duffy - Honestly, I can't stand to listen to this man talk about how great he and his friends are. If you can, enjoy. Otherwise, stay away.
Outtakes - Your usual film fluff: actors missing their lines, people hitting each other harder than they should...and characters in bed with other characters. If you're like me, the outtake of David Della Rocco messing up his "Wyatt Earp" line was the nail in the coffin on his ability as an actor.
Deleted Scenes - I've always maintained that at least a few of these should have found their way into the original release as it helps explain the Il Duce character towards the end instead of just bitch slapping us with "Yeah, that's who he is."
New Stuff:
Audio Commentary by Actor Billy Connolly - Pure gold. Truly, almost reason enough to go out and snag this. It could only have been better if Dafoe had tagged along. Hearing Connolly ramble on about what certain scenes remind him of is classic. The man's hilarious.
The Boondock Saints Script - Now never mind that you could hit up google and find this within seconds, Troy Duffy has "graced" us with his masterpiece. Depending on where you stand with Boondock Saints reading this will either make you hate it or love it more. For me, it's the former as I've now read hundreds of scripts and this one has me wincing every few pages. I know it was produced independently, but it makes me wonder how the story about Duffy's friend shopping it around and getting funding can be true.
If you already own The Boondock Saints in one of its DVD incarnations, there's no real reason to go ahead and pick-up the Blu-ray version. The picture and audio only receive a minor bump in quality and the only additional extra feature worth noting is the Billy Connolly commentary. If you don't own it yet and are a fan then I say go for it. There aren't going to be any future rereleases that will have more than this one. You've waited long enough. Go get it.
"The Boondock Saints" is on sale February 10, 2009 and is rated R. Action. Written and directed by Troy Duffy. Starring Billy Connolly, David Della Rocco, Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flanery, Willem Dafoe.
