The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day Directed by: Troy Duffy Cast: Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Billy Connolly, Clifton Collins Jr., Julie Benz Running Time: 2 hrs Rating: R Release Date: November 13, 2009 (Limited)
PLOT: The vigilante assassins (Flanery, Reedus) return from hiding in Ireland to stop a copycat killer who is putting a bad mark on their legacy. While back home they attempt to fix the unfinished business with the powerful Yakavetta Mob.
WHO'S IT FOR? If you like action movies with slow motion shootouts, slim plots, and shabby moral lessons, then you probably saw 1999’s original The Boondock Saints. Now that ten years have past, do you want the same thing again, or would a hundredth re-watch of the first suffice?
EXPECTATIONS: The first film succeeded with a few clever ideas, such as a different way to imagine a shootout. Now that the Saints aren’t particularly new to us, would this feel like the same, or would things be bigger and better? Would the sequel be able to maintain the original’s near miraculous pacing?
SCORECARD (0-10)
ACTORS: Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as The Saints: Their blood brotherhood saves The Saints from their own homophobic jabs, as they are always together, and if one’s not wearing a shirt, neither is the other. In their second story, the brothers don’t have any emotional moments that come off as phony, which is certainly a step-up from the goofy weeping moments of the original. The most drastic change that these characters make in the film is their usage of pistols that don’t have silencers, other than that they’re the same Saints that have impressed action fans for years. Score: 5
Billy Connolly as Poppa M: The Saints leave their father, Poppa M, formerly known as "Il Duce," to reflect upon his own back story while maintaining their shack. His origins are shown in randomly placed, Godfather wannabe flashbacks which later explain one twist at the end. When the two Irish boys find themselves in a dramatic standoff, he appears not a second too late to make the moment even more cool in Duffy’s mind. Just as the Italians used him, Poppa M is the writer's accessory. Score: 3
Julie Benz as Special Agent Eunice Bloom: Duffy tries to inject some type of estrogen into a movie that has more shirtless dudes than a total of women, and does so by copying the effeminate Smecker (played by Willem Dafoe) from the original film. This round we have the same smart-talking brilliant special investigator, but this one is far more annoying with a failed Southern accent. Bloom has not one but TWO sequences where she is shown witnessing the shootings that she's only explaining. In one of the moments, she participates in a massacre, dressed up in cowgirl gear. Why? Score: 4
Clifton Collins Jr. as Romeo: More tedious than Rocco before him, Romeo is another sidekick who bumbles through his attempts to match the Saints' coolness. This time, this guy worships the Saints even more, and brings in a double dosage of racist and homophobic humor. It’s tough gig being second saddle to someone as “bad-ass” as the Saints, but sidekicks don’t have to be this pesky. Score: 3
TALKING: Part of the charm of The Boondock Saints is its South Boston mouth, so racist and homophobic rants should be expected. With such leeway, the new Boondock movie gets near abusive, and starts to emulate the conscious school boy who says things just to sound tough. There’s a lot of tough cop talk this round also, with officers making a lot of illusions to prison rape. The two films have always been a bit homoerotic, perhaps they’re now becoming a bit self conscious? Regahdless, the two movies will always have better accents than The Departed. Score: 4
SIGHTS: Once again, the shoot outs are in graceful slow motion. Duffy seems to have maintained his boyish fascination with violence, as he enjoys reveling in every frame he can get of watching a Saint shoot down a bad guy. He likes to watch said bad guys topple down each other, as there is a moment where a massacre is repeated but in slow motion. There are enough insert shots of Boston to divert you from the truth that this movie was filmed in Toronto. Which is fine, but that’s definitely not the Prudential Tower. Score: 5
SOUNDS: The bar rock gets cranked to eleven in hopes of making any scene have more edge, and sleazy club techno once again accompanies the slow motion shooting sequences. Interestingly enough, the new investigator of the messes created by the Saints doesn’t wear headphones or dance to Puccini like Smecker did, she wears ear plugs. Her attempt to cut out the excess sounds is ironically symbolic. I would fully agree with her were it not for The Skids’ “The Saints Are Coming,” which still makes for a kick-a** choice to play during the credits. Score: 4
PLOT SPOILERS
BEST SCENE: In memory, the shootouts all seem to melt together, but what's probably the best one involves a cameo from someone in Easy Rider. No, not Hopper.
ENDING: The Saints could come back. Should that happen, however, Duffy will need some new ideas, or have to wait another ten years so his duo until his duo's presence at the movies is special again.
QUESTIONS: None.
REWATCHABILITY: It may not run as fast, but it does have the same replay value as the first one. That is, if you’re actually amused by this sequel.
OVERALL
Fans of the original have tattoos with “Veritas” and “Aequitas” on their hands, just as The Saints do, but it seems that no one will worship the two killers as much as their creator Troy Duffy. He makes his dearly beloved characters fly through the air like angels with excellent aim and an elusiveness to bullets. As for action heroes, Duffy must think that the Saints are a perfect concoction of some of the greats; they have the perfect aim of James Bond, the scriptural execution of Pulp Fiction’s Jules, and also bits of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.
Duffy's boyish fascination with the violent reckonings brought by the Saints is continued here, and so are the many ideas that made the original so contagious to home video audiences ten years ago. Though the concepts are now even worn down, The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day remains an enigma – as a movie, it’s a mess. It has lazy story cohesion, redundant action sequences, and annoying characters. But at the same time, it offers more of the Saints’ thrills that we could only get from watching the first one over and over again. Duffy plays it safe and pleases inside the box he has nestled with other branded fans, and seems indifferent to shooting higher than that. But if he did that, he'd risk the chance of missing, something The Saints never do in Duffy's mind.
FINAL SCORE: 5/10