Brilliant first movie of McDonagh

Rating: 9/10 (30 November 2013)

Written and directed by McDonagh, it is his first feature movie; his "Irish drama writer" background shows throughout each scene, witty dialogues, black-humor, slightly melancholic yet full of action. I can't recall any movie that is this much literary, while also being a Tarantino-like "homage to B action movies".
It's about two hit men, but they hardly seem to be inclined to any killing, and actually they hardly kill anyone during the entire movie. They are quite nice persons, with empathy, remorse, even some romantic sentiments - yes, the whole story is quite absurd, but endlessly entertaining. The actual plot hardly matters, every scene is worthy by itself, if only for the unsurpassable acting (C. Farrell, R. Fiennes, etc.). Not incidentally, the cinematography is also close to perfection.
I gave it "only" 9/10 because there are some little clichés here and there, but it is a slight disappointment only in comparison to this otherwise very unique movie.
If you have seen and enjoyed this movie, see also McDonagh's earlier short movie, "Six Shooter" (2005) (strange but fun), and definitely see his second feature movie, "Seven Psychopaths" (2012), which is quite similar to "In Bruges" in nature.