In Bruges 2008
This is a smart, funny, dark, and ultimately violent movie about two hit men ordered to the quaint Belgium town of Bruges by their boss. Colin Farrell is good as the not-so-smart young guy who is bored out of his mind in the tourist trap, while Brendan Gleeson is the older guy who enjoys a holiday from his otherwise pretty grim life. Ralph Fiennes plays against type as the crime boss tortured by a bad temper and his own code of ethics. The dialogue between the two hit men is funny and absurd and seems to borrow from movies like those from Judd Apatow where lines are improvised with good results. The banter also invokes some of the great stuff between John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction.
Once the movie really gets going (which takes a while), it becomes more of a caper or chase movie. But what makes it different is some great philosophical explorations of the main characters, which continue right up to the very end. It still works as a fairly simple movie about criminals, but is much more intellectually satisfying than it seems like it should be. While there is some new ground broken, many of the elements are kind of tired and not everything is as clever as it might like to be, but the movie is still enjoyable.
Written: 20 Dec 2008
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital