Sunday, November 1, 2009

The Saints are back...

"Like its predecessor, All Saints Day will, if nothing else, be a cult item for Roman Catholic schoolboys; the next sequel, blatantly set up, should arrive no later than 2019."

Most sequels don't work. They tend to regurgitate the same plot without giving us anything new; or, worse, they change too much, and we lose the emotional core that made the first movie so special.

"The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day" is the rare sequel where I absolutely want more of the same.

And the poster gives us that. We see the two brothers, their eyes closed, holding their guns like weapons of holy vengeance as they bow before God in silent prayer. Those guns are not just a show of force. They will be fired. Repeatedly. And bad guys will die. Are they vigilantes, or are they doing God's work? That's up for interpretation, but the two points of otherworldly light - one for each brother - give us a clue. (The greenish hue in that neverending sky also proves that God is Irish.) "Boondock Saints 2" is a movie about the unbreakable bond of brothers, their belief in (and relationship to) God and their ability to shoot to kill. That is the Holy Trinity that makes this franchise a success.

It's taken 10 years, but the boys are back in town.


- Philadelphia Daily News





More Boston Irish Catholic Vigilante Action - NYTimes.com


By MIKE HALE
Published: October 30, 2009

In 1999 you could explain Troy Duffy’s “Boondock Saints” as a cheeseball riff on “Reservoir Dogs” and “True Romance” — Quentin Tarantino meets Wayne and Garth. How to explain, a decade later, his “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day”? Apparently the world has been waiting for another cartoonishly violent, broadly comic Boston Irish Catholic vigilante action movie with gay overtones.

Mr. Duffy has reunited an impressive share of the original cast, starting with Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as the MacManus brothers, the slaughterhouse workers turned righteous avengers who liquidated crowds of Russian and Italian mobsters in the original. Flushed from their hideout in Ireland, they rejoin their bumbling allies on the Boston police force and ventilate some more goodfellas, this time Italian and Chinese. Sadly, Willem Dafoe’s gay F.B.I. agent is gone, replaced by Julie Benz doing a hybrid Kyra Sedgwick-Sharon Stone impression. In an indicator of Mr. Duffy’s comic sensibility, she wears a gun prominently strapped just above her crotch.

Mr. Duffy again tells his story through successive here’s-what-happened flashbacks and indulges in extreme movie love, emulating blaxploitation and Hong Kong cop films and quoting everything from “The Godfather” to “Titanic” to “Basic Instinct.” And at least a quarter of his relentless gags may make you laugh. Like its predecessor, “All Saints Day” will, if nothing else, be a cult item for Roman Catholic schoolboys; the next sequel, blatantly set up, should arrive no later than 2019.

“The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian) for bloody violence, language and some nudity.

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Written and directed by Troy Duffy, based on a story by Troy Duffy and Taylor Duffy; director of photography, Miroslaw Baszak; edited by Bill De Ronde and Paul Kumpata; music by Jeff Danna; production designer, Dan Yarhi; produced by Chris Brinker and Don Carmody; released by Apparition and Stage 6 Films. Running time: 2 hours 1 minute.

WITH: Sean Patrick Flanery (Connor MacManus), Norman Reedus (Murphy MacManus), Billy Connolly (Poppa M), Clifton Collins Jr. (Romeo), Julie Benz (Special Agent Eunice Bloom), Peter Fonda (the Roman), Judd Nelson (Concezio Yakavetta) and David Della Rocco (Rocco).

Review: The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day MovieViral.com

The Saints Go Marching In: 'Boondock Saints 2' Cast Interviews - Moviefone Minute

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