Saints or Sinners?

 

The Boondock Saints

1999

D: Troy Duffy

**********

Pros: Some Funny Dialogue, Death-to-the-Author Themes

Cons: Actual Themes, Tacky Overstylization, Musical Choices

            Among the movies I thought were masterpieces when I was younger, The Boondock Saints stands out.  Denied a wide release because of the Columbine Massacre (a fate which The Matrix seemed well-funded enough to avoid), it saw runaway success in the following years on video. There seemed to be a Horseshoe Effect of overrated movies when I started college with this one on the right side and Donnie Darko on the left.  Indeed, it seems strange that the protagonists’ acts of vigilantism are not just a fun fantasy, but something actually  seemingly endorsed by the creator himself.  Whereas Starship Troopers is the movie you think is cheesy until you realize it’s a satire, this movie is the opposite.

           The movie wastes no time introducing its two heroes as well as its attitude.  Twin brothers Connor and Murphy McManus (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus) are attending a church, then approach the sanctuary to kneel briefly before leaving prematurely and approving of the priest's fiery sermon about the Bystander Effect vis-à-vis Kitty Genovese.  It may be telling that the actual Catholic church in the area refused to allow the movie to be filmed there.  They then go to their job at a meat-packing plant where one of the more manipulatively politically-incorrect jokes occurs.  They are introduced to a stereotypical “fat angry lesbian” (Dot-Marie Jones) who eventually takes exception to an innocent comment.  Instead of turning the other cheek, they choose to provoke her further until she pushes one and the other punches her.  The good thing about this movie is its moral clarity.

           That night they go to a bar and are threatened by Russian mobsters.  The Russians are beaten and humiliated in the ensuing fight but track the twins to their home, forcing them to kill them in self-defense.  Getting a taste for blood, they begin to hunt down mobsters, murderers, and rapists with the help of their funny friend Rocco (David Della Rocco), a mob packageboy.  The trio gets in multiple arguments, and their banter is funny.  That combined with the karma they dole out could make this movie a perfectly enjoyable power fantasy until the climax, when the offended mob boss Yakavetta (Carlo Rota) eventually captures them and kills Rocco.  From that point on, the movie starts taking itself far too seriously.  They team up with Il Duce (Billy Connolly), a feared hitman the mob hires in desperation to fight them, when they find out he’s their estranged father.  In the final scene they invade a courtroom and murder Yakavetta while sending a warning to anyone who might think to commit violent crimes in the future.  The movie momentarily teases a far more interesting premise of widespread Russian/Italian mob war as a police theory to what’s happening.

           The scene, if one were to acknowledge Duffy’s apparent endorsement of the Saints, is remarkably tone-deaf in its execution.  The low angle-shots, ominous music, and unhinged rants of the heroes invoke fear and discomfort in their actions.  In fact, if one were to take the movie at face value, it would seem like a subversive indictment of vigilantism.  At first its depicted as fun, then disturbing once the stakes are truly revealed as well as its corrupting influence.  Even the brothers’ prayer seems like a call for evangelization misinterpreted as a creepy endorsement of human sacrifice.  The pretentious street interview scene for the end credits further takes you out of the movie’s universe to the point where it can’t be interpreted as escapism.

          Attempting to track down the brothers is FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe), a flamboyant and lovably snarky hero.  Unfortunately this amusing character is a classic example of an ignorant filmmaker’s idea of a great detective.  He has odd quirks, like listening to classical music while he’s investigating a crime scene, and he acts needlessly arrogant toward the local detectives.  He singles out a particularly oblivious one named Greenly (Bob Marley) while the other two (David Ferry and Brian Mahoney) passively enjoy it because less heat is on them, a classic bully dynamic.  At one point Greenly points out that it will be difficult to find thetwo brothers after their first self-defense kill while they coincidentally enter to turn themselves in, and we’re supposed to think this is an indictment of this intelligence.  Smecker’s forced superiority is conveyed to an absurd degree in one scene in which he needs to explain to a forensic scientist that ammonia can destroy DNA samples. 

          Smecker is also revealed to be a homosexual, albeit a relatively self-loathing one.  And while he’s depicted as a badass, he’s unraveled by the case.  That’s right, the expert FBI agent, who’s probably dealt with child predators and even listened to the Bittaker/Norris tape for training is getting freaked out that the case about bumping off wise guys is taking a bit longer to crack than expected.  He eventually breaks down and helps the brothers commit acts of vigilantism (partially influenced by a priest in a confessional who’s under obvious duress).  In the alternative interpretation of this movie, it makes him seem like a weakling who’s easily manipulated.  Even if one were to salvage the movie’s themes, the clumsy attempt at a not-all-gays depiction of a gay man is still homophobic.

           Troy Duffy’s status as a Tarantino-wannabe is reinforced by his tacky stylistic choices.  Ron Jeremy’s presence in the movie is probably just manufactured edge of some kind.  Climactic scenes are set to bland rock riffs, for example.  At one point he complains about his inability to obtain rights for a Led Zeppelin song and having to settle for something mediocre; apparently it never occurred to him to just not set the scene to a rock song.  Some forced examples of flare can be seen as well, such as Yakavetta’s blind, bathroom-cleaning former mob boss.  Even a decidedly contemptible hitman has to handle his silenced pistols like a video game character while killing an unsuspecting family.  TIl Duce as a superhuman assassin whose skills at combat overwhelms the three vigilantes and makes Smecker think he’s a whole squad of men.  His brilliant tactic was sidestepping in the open while shooting two pistols.  One of the cleverer flourishes is Smecker’s explanations of how the Saints executed each killing.  The build-up to the act usually cuts to the post hoc investigation.  When Smecker explains his theory the events are reenacted with his observing.  Unfortunately, it results in the most pretentiously melodramatic moment in the film, in which he internally overreacts to the fact that there was a firefight.

             The movie is rather flawed, even with an alternate interpretation.  Its saving grace is its humor, even if it is a bit mean-spirited at times (such as Rocco’s cruelly rubbing his accidental killing of his girlfriend’s cat in her face as he breaks up with her).  Its confused nature reflects the insecurity of the man who made it, as shown in the 2003 documentary Overnight.  That film also reveals the extreme pettiness of Harvey Weinstein, who made a point of sabotaging the movie’s release.  It’s an entertaining movie, though I’ve heard nothing good about the sequel.