Conner: Patric Flarery
Murphy: Norman Reedus
Agent Smecker: Willem Dafoe
Ill Duece: Billy Connoly
Rocco: David Della Rocco
Where'd this one come from?
I wouldn't have even thought twice about
picking up this hidden gem if weren't for a reccomendation from a
friend. I saw it for a cheap $9.99 marked down from it's regular $14.98
list price so I decided what the hell. If I didn't like it I could
always sell it to my local comic shop for five bucks back. But I would
never sell it, after finding this movie I'm going to try to spread the
word as much as I can.
Having debuted in 1999, Fox transferred it to disc in 2001 although a
few places claim it came out just this year. It mirrors Pulp Fiction and
Tarantino films because of it's concept but it's got a mind of it's
own.
The Boondock Saints tells the story of two Irish brothers living in a
Boston neighborhood on the verge of a Russian mob takeover. After a
night at the bar two members of the Russian mob pay them a visit and try
to kill them. They tie one brother to a toilet and the other is dragged
outside to be shot. Connor actually pulls the toilet out and drops it on
the head of one mob member from atop a roof! And then he jumps down and
lands carefully on the back of another, crushing his spine. After this
little stint, the press begin to refer them as saints. FBI agent Smecker
(Willem Dafoe) brings them in and questions them but decides it was just
self defense. They still have to stay one night in a cell and there they
have a vision from God and are given a mission. They realize that it is
their duty to take out the filth that is crowding their streets in the
form of pimps, mob bosses, and gang members. From that point on they
begin to take out mob members left and right as Agent Smecker begins to
question whose side of morality he is on.
An above average movie that is well hidden. It does have it's flaws
though. The pacing isn't quite right in some parts and the killings are
shown in flashback form as Smecker imagines them. Aside from that, this
movie is a hidden gem in the DVD bargain bin.
Into the disc. This is where the movie loses some points. For some
reason 20th Century Fox transferred this as a non-anamorphic picture.
It's a recent disc too which is why I don't understand why this
happened. I mean this studio isn't so good in the picture department as
say New Line Cinema but they can and have done better. Pixelization is a
bother and can be distracting. Watch the scene where Connor and Murphy
are in the vents above the Russian mob boss and you'll see what I mean.
The transfer just looks soft and suggests that it might have been
transferred from a Laserdisc or something.
The sound is decent though. Both 5.1 and 2.0 tracks are included without
problems. Dialouge is mixed well with the action and audible throughout.
The extras could have been a lot worse. Deleted scenes, outtakes, audio
commentary and a trailer. The deleted scenes and the outtakes are culled
from workprint copies and bad in quality. The trailer, surprisingly,
looks better in term of the picture than the movie as pixelization is
not present or anything. The trailer is actually pulled from a video
release as it's not the theatrical one.
Overall, The Boondock Saints has a few problems that keep it from being
perfect but at $14.98 this is a definite see and buy. Especially if you
like movies like
Snatch,
Pulp Fiction,
Reservoir Dogs
and Jackie Brown.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
