You can't sell horse tranquilizers to a midget

Rating: Null/10 (31 October 2008)

Playwrite Martin McDonagh directs "In Bruges", his feature film debut. The plot? Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson play Ray and Ken, two Irish hit men. Ray is a lovable young man and Ken is his paternal superior. The duo have just completed a job in London, but things didn't go well; Ray accidentally shot a child.
Guilt-ridden, Ray spends the rest of the film in a suicidal daze. Ken sympathises with the guy, and the duo have a number of touching conversations. These are the two most touchy-feely assassins since John Cusack in "Grosse Point Blank".
McDonagh's plot later takes focus when the duo's crime boss arranges for Ken and Ray to travel to Bruges, a small town in Northern Belgium. Ken views this as a vacation, an opportunity to explore the historical city, but Ray hates the place, he wants to die or perhaps hook up with pretty local girls.
McDonagh lays the symbolism on thick during the film's first 40 minutes. Bruges is portrayed as Purgatory, a transition point between Earth and judgement, with Hieronymus Bosch paintings, ominous dialogue and much talk of sins needing be repaid. Several noir elements are also set up (bottles, midgets, stairs, prostitutes, weight, fat people, lists, rivers, guns), all of which come into play during McDonagh's final act. Here his characters increasingly find themselves buffeted by, not only their warrior code, but noir fate.
Midway into the film, Ken receives a message from his boss: his new mission is to kill his partner Ray, a long-standing cliché in assassin movies (see even the recent "The American"). Ken refuses and his boss grows furious. The film then ends with your typical final act shootout, though the script is smart enough to subvert expectations at times. McDonaghand has enough wit to mock genre conventions, but isn't strong enough to create his own rules.
7.9/10 - Can't compete with John Cusack's "Grosse Point Blank". Both films feature neurotic assassins and attempt to mix action with humour, but "Grosse Point" trumps "In Bruges" in virtually every category. It's funnier, wittier, has more action, and it's character's are ultimately more touching. "In Bruges" is neither serious enough to be a major dramatic work, nor funny enough to be a memorable comedy.
Worth one viewing.