Was it worth it

The Boondock Saints 2

For those who don’t know, the first Boondock Saints was released on video and DVD during the mid-nineties. And like many of the movie’s fans, I first stumbled upon it in Blockbuster and picked it up on a whim. I wasn’t expecting much, and only knew that William Defoe was in the movie, the cover featured two guys with guns, and the plot involved vigilantes taking on the mob. So why not, right?

Within a week I’d purchased my own copy of the Boondock Saints, half the people I knew were quoting lines from the film, and I was describing scenes in the movie to random strangers (especially the death-by-toilet-bowl scene. Man, I loved that one).

So as you might imagine, I was excited to hear about Boondock Saints 2 finally getting made and being released in theaters. And this time around, writer/director Troy Duffy had a larger budget, plus more technical know-how and experience to draw from.

But somehow . . . I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy Boondock Saints 2 as much as Boondock Saints 1. And damn it, I’m not entirely sure why.

The story starts out strong enough. After massacring the Boston mafia 10 years ago, the brothers Connor (Sean Patrick Flannery) and Murphy McManus (Norman Reedus) have been living on a sheep farm in Ireland with their father, Il Duce (Billy Connoly). But after a hit-man kills a priest and frames the Saints for the murder, the two brothers come storming back to Boston for some serious payback. And along the way, a Hispanic dock-worker named Romeo (Clifton Collins Jr.) winds up tagging along. Romeo’s a huge fan of the Saint’s previous work, and he occupies the role formerly filled by the character of Rocco in the first movie.

From there, this film follows many of the story beats from the original as the Saints tear through the Boston underworld. It even involves an FBI agent (played by Julie Benz) who recounts the over-the-top shoot out scenes, mirroring the part first played by William Defoe. And she’s aided in her tasks by, again, the same three cops who tried to track down the Saints in the first movie.

But along the way, a more complex plot unfolds that involves the background of the Saints’s father Il Duce, and draws him back to Boston as well.

So the sequel here has most of the same ideas that made the first Boondocks Saints such a cool film, while expanding on the core elements. Plus, it’s a better made and more polished-looking film. And yet, it just didn’t manage to reach the greatness of the original. I don’t know, maybe it was the mostly-absent William Defoe and David Della Rocco. Both made short cameo appearances that stood out, but just weren’t enough to help pull things together.

But I do have to get credit to Troy Duffy for managing to get this movie made, and perhaps my expectations were just too high to begin with. In any case, I’m sure fans of the original will come out in droves to watch the brothers McManus do what they do best; shoot the bad guys and look cool while doing it.


- Nate