The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

In a perfect example of how strong DVD sales can give a movie a second chance, 1999's The Boondock Saints made less than $20,000 in a very short theater run only to become a cult hit on DVD.  But success came at a price with a 2003 documentary that showed director Troy Duffy's meteoric rise to success and fall from grace.  Duffy fell completely out of the limelight and didn't make another movie for 10 years until the studios finally asked him to make a sequel for the Saints, 2009's The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.

The original is actually a mess of a movie that works because of all its goofy action, cheesy one-liners, and characters that were surprisingly sympathetic.  It was a formula that worked so Duffy repeats it with his sequel.  Not 'repeats' like he continues where the 1st movie left off, but 'repeats' like scene-for-scene with the same humor and action.  With 10 years to work on a sequel and script, this is the best he could come up with?  As a huge fan of the original, this sequel comes across as boring, been there and done that, and generally pretty lazy.  The two vigilante brothers cleaning up society's trash worked smoothly the first time around, but not for a second go-around.

It's been eight years since brothers Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) killed a Boston mafioso in a courtroom full of witnesses with their father, Il Duce (Billy Connolly).  Dubbed 'the Saints,' the trio escaped to Ireland where they tend a small sheep farm, but news reaches them that a priest in Boston was killed in a manner suspiciously similar to how they dispatched their victims.  So either some one is trying to frame them, or two, lure them back to Boston.  No matter the reason, the Saints return to the states with Romeo (Clifton Collins Jr.), basically a Mexican gangster, joining them.  They set their sites on Concezio Yakavetta (Judd Nelson), the son of the mafioso they killed years before.  But not so fast, the Feds get called in with Special Agent Eunice Bloom (Julie Benz) leading the investigation.

I don't even know where to start with this one.  With a few very small exceptions, nothing really works here.  Two of the original's best characters aren't back -- one died in the first movie, the other makes a very small, very pointless cameo -- but instead of bringing in some new, interesting characters, Duffy creates new versions that are almost identical.  Collins Jr. is funny enough although he's trying too hard as Rocco 2, I mean Romeo.  He acts crazy and bugs out his eyes after every line.  As for Benz, she's the student of Agent Paul Smecker (Wilem Dafoe, he makes the cameo) and basically channels his ability.  Easy on the eyes, but not on the ears, Benz has an accent like nails on the chalkboard and comes across as more annoying than cutesy.

That's not to say they're the ones to blame.  With the brothers, whole scenes are duplicated from the original to show off their dynamic.  The most obnoxious one has them getting into a fistfight right before a hit attempt that of course, goes perfectly even if it wasn't drawn up that way.  Their lines are nothing more than a series of one-liners that don't do much at all, my favorite being Reedus' "Let's do some gratuitous violence."  It doesn't make sense, and haha, we get it, you're addressing us as fans.  And completely unrelated to story or character, as Connor, Flanery doesn't look quite right -- something's going on with his eyes and face.  Connolly is a bright spot as he was in the original, and we do see some great background with him as to how he became the notorious killer Il Duce.

Connolly's subplot is the worthy part of the story, including his relationship with his former partner who eventually turned him in.  SPOILERS STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE TWIST SPOILERS  The partner, now all grown up, is setting up the brothers to get a crack at Connor and Murphy.  In what should have been a cool part, Peter Fonda plays the Roman, an aging gangster trying to right wrongs he's done.  Connolly and Fonda have a great scene together near the finale, but it's undone by a really stupid action scene to close out the movie.  And the capper, Il Duce gets knocked off.  Not cool at all, but it does go along with my "the coolest character always gets whacked" theory.  END OF SPOILERS

The action especially is pretty disappointing, looking more like PG-13 shootouts than the R-rating it was given.  Instead of improving on the top-notch, highly stylized action of the original, Duffy does the same exact thing in terms of storytelling.  Set-up is introduced, fade to black, aftermath, FBI agents analyze scene, and Benz's Bloom explains what happens inserted into the scene.  It was cool the first time, especially with Dafoe's famous "THERE WAS A FIREFIGHT!" line, but it's dull here.  As a comparison, watch Benz inexplicably dressed up as a cowgirl in a similar scene. (SPOILERS watch it HERE).  The finale too disappoints mostly because by then the story is a complete mess and makes no sense.  If that's important to you.

For every good moment here in the sequel, they're undone by many more moments that fall flat on their faces.  Awkward unnecessary nudity, some horrific choices in soundtrack playing over the countless montages, and not more than an ounce or two of originality.  The Boondock Saints was a surprise hit, and it seems Duffy tried to do exactly the same thing with his second feature film.

Of course, the final scene is actually pretty cool, and leaves the door open for a third movie.  As much as I loved the first one, I can't help but hope that they decide to let a sleeping dog lie.  Who knows what went wrong?  The tone's too jokey where the original was mostly serious, and the humor falls flat.  There's also countless flashbacks as if to point out, 'hey, remember how good the original was?'  It needlessly calls attention to what could have been. This sequel was awful.

The Boondock Saints II: All Saint's Day <----trailer (2009): */****

The Boondock Saints

Released completely under the radar in 1999, The Boondock Saints has gotten the last laugh in recent years. The low-budget movie has become a cult hit on DVD in the decade since with its blend of action and comedy and what has to be a record-setting use of the word 'f*ck' in a movie.

Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) McManus are two Irish brothers living in Boston, making a living as meat packers and living in illegal loft housing. Here's their supremely cool intro. One night at the local bar, three Russian thugs come in saying the place must be closed down. Cue to the next morning when an FBI investigator, Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe), arrives a crime scene where two of the thugs have been killed. So starts a movie that is a ton of fun to watch.

The two brothers become vigilantes, killing all of the evil in society. Their friend Rocco says it best, "We could kill everybody!" Rocco was a messenger boy for the local Italian mob family and joins the McManus brothers in their efforts as they wipe out all the scum in the city. The only problem? Their actions have drawn attention, and the mob turns to a hired killer the likes of which has never been seen, Il Duce. Here's my personal favorite, their first meeting.

Much of the movie makes fun of the action genre while having really cool gunbattles throughout. In one argument as Connor and Murphy stock up on firearms, Connor points out they need some rope because 'Charlie Bronson always had rope.' Murphy's response is perfect, 'This isn't a movie.' That sums up the whole tone of the movie in one exchange of dialogue. Director Troy Duffy makes a movie that's very aware of what it is doing. The action? Completely over the top. The dialogue? Cheesey and cliched at points, but it works just as the movie on a whole does.

As brothers Connor and Murphy, Flanery and Reedus hit all the right notes. The conversations between them feel like brothers, not just two actors thrown together and told to memorize their lines. But as good as the brothers are, this is Wilem Dafoe's movie. Dafoe plays Smecker, an FBI investigator who can figure out and read crime scenes when no one else can piece it together. Always know for his quirky roles, this might be the quirkiest with some nice touches added to his character. He's gay but calls other gay men 'f*gs' and fairies. Examining crime scenes, he listens to opera. Smecker is the most three-dimensional of the characters, a man torn between what his job requires him to do and what his head tells him to do. David Della Rocca plays Roc, the brothers' Italian friend. Rocca plays the character completely off the wall which wears thin at times, but it works because I found myself liking the character. Billy Connolly makes a brief but memorable appearance as hitman extraordinaire Il Duce.

The movie is a polarizing one for any number of reasons ranging from violence to language to the plotline of vigilante killers. I can understand why people dislike this movie or in some cases hate it, but I loved it. There's a style to it that many movies are missing, especially movies with budgets much larger than Duffy used here. Good news too, looks like a sequel is being released on DVD this year. The pessimist in me says a straight-to-DVD release = bad movie, but I'll take my chances.