The plot is part Neil Simon, part Quentin Tarantino. Two Irish hitmen hiding out in the blissfully uneventful city of Bruges find themselves in a tangled web of philosophy and eccentric personalities. The result is wholly original.
Augmented by brilliant writing, In Bruges sets a medley of opposites into play and stands back to watch the chaos ensue. The film bites, shocks, and expertly balances hilarity with unexpectedly stirring pathos.
Forced into evading the heat after a botched assassination job, two hitmen take quite differently to blissfully uneventful Belgium. One killer is Ken (powerhouse talent Brendan Gleeson) a seasoned veteran perched on the edge of retirement, disillusioned with "the business" and delighting in the peace of the ancient city of Bruges. His partner is new gun Ray (Colin Farrell) who can't stand the idyllic setting.
The story has a fable-like quality, enhanced through a layering effect of personalities and rituals, histories and oddities. Director/Screenwriter Martin McDonagh shows his playwriting roots -- and that's a compliment, as his confident hand juggles a web of codes and karma against the timeless cityscape. He also manages to bring out the very best in his cast. There are no placeholders here; you come to understand everyone you meet.
Gleeson (Braveheart, 28 Days Later) is a master actor, and he has been in more films you've seen than you might imagine. Here is appropriately brooding and anguished, the lines on his face like battle-scars of a tormented life. What surprised me was the superb excellence of Farrell -- he delivers what is hands-down his greatest performance here. Ansy, cagey, tactless yet heartfelt, his triggerman is no one you'd want to hang out with and yet impossible not to feel for. Ralph Fiennes rounds out the cast in an ingenius turn on the gangster archetype; he blends villain and monk into a role that has to be seen to be believed.
The verdict? Smart, funny, eccentric and sad, In Bruges is stocked with more substance than a dozen of 2008's flashy blockbusters.
The In Bruges DVD comes with a lot of deserved extras, and is available on Blu-Ray now.
Comments
Hey Rick it's Jason Roestel National Movie Examiner. I'd like to talk to you. Please Email me at rockatanski@live.com.
Oh yeah. I LOVED In Bruges!
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