Brendan Gleeson’s gruff persona has proven a godsend to the world of comedy in recent years, with the most memorable example being the stellar intimate film directed by Martin McDonagh, In Bruges, where he acted alongside Colin Farrell as a pair of hitmen stranded in a small Belgium town. It seems only fitting then that the next great comic performance he’d give would be in a film by Martin’s brother, John Michael McDonagh, playing a policeman in a sleepy Irish town where a group of smugglers are hoping to pass through unseen by the authorities even as they kill a few people. It’s not In Bruges’s equal, but The Guard has the same wicked sense of dry wit channeled through Gleeson, Don Cheadle, and Mark Strong.
The oddly staged murder of a man in the jurisdiction of Irish policeman Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Gleeson) coincides with the arrival of a trio of smugglers (led by Strong) in the area prompting the arrival of the FBI who’ve been tracking the bandits for some time. Boyle finds himself the chaperone of FBI Agent Wendell Everett (Cheadle) whose all-business attitude towards his job contrasts sharply with the dark, playful sense of humor that Boyle uses to keep his job interesting. As Everett acclimates to the law enforcement traditions and the social idioms of Ireland, Boyle keeps him on his feet with a series of off-putting occurrences, all while a police investigation into the smugglers begins to go south.
Brendan Gleeson’s knack for comedy often shines through even when he plays it straight. His countenance always seems to leak a wry sense of humor, and so when he has the chance to just let loose in a role like Ken in In Bruges or Boyle in The Guard, you begin to understand that Brendan Gleeson is something of a genius when it comes to dry humor. The scenes between Gleeson and his dying mother (Fionnula Flanagan) are works of genius in the field of understated comedy, and the two play off each other with expert timing. And though Cheadle certainly holds his won with a brand of sarcastic skepticism, Gleeson’s style doesn’t interact with it nearly as well it did with Farrell’s despairing and cabin feverish Ray.
Unlike Gleeson, Don Cheadle’s history of roles doesn’t always call for that slight infusion of comedy, and quite frankly it’s hard to find a film where he’s playing a straight up comedic part. Even in The Guard he’s the straight man equivalent to Gleeson’s oddity, but he does get the occasional chance to fire back with a funny line instead of just being the gauge for the audience to measure just how strange Boyle has become in a town where he’s instituted the law in accordance with the inhabitants’ particular quirks. To be fair, Gleeson and Cheadle don’t spend nearly as much time together on camera as you’d expect given the premise, and maybe that’s why the chemistry never really feels as complete as it should.
We all know Mark Strong can play a villain, and what’s more, we know his range as a villain is vast. Whether he’s playing a gangster in a world of fledgling superheroes, a power-hungry noble at the head of a Masonic group, or a crazed astronaut who has pledged his devotion to a dying sun and the extinction of humanity, Strong has perfected that enmity towards all things moral that one hopes to get in a villain. And while that’s great that he’s so clearly perfected a niche, it’s also a bit tiresome to see him play slight variations of the same character. Is he great in The Guard? Definitely, but it never feels like he’s showing us anything new when compared to an unleashed Gleeson or the rarely seen comical Cheadle, and so the film feels a bit uneven in its performances.
John Michael McDonagh kept his film lean as both the writer and director, and The Guard hums along rather quickly between Brendan Gleeson’s scenes of comical absurdity, Mark Strong’s biting sarcasm, and everything in between. He got superb performances from all three and has a definite knack for comedy. The Guard has enough laugh out loud moments to make it memorable for that reason alone, and it only gets better in that it’s a well-crafted little crime thriller. If you like In Bruges or very dry comedy in general, then you can’t go wrong with The Guard.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The best extra is easily the hilarious outtake reel, followed up by the audio commentary with Cheadle, Gleeson, and McDonagh. After that, mediocrity abounds with some deleted and extended scenes and McDonagh's short film The Second Death.
"The Guard" is on sale January 3, 2012 and is rated R. Comedy. Directed by John Michael Mcdonagh. Written by John Michael McDonagh. Starring Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Fionnula Flanagan, Mark Strong.
