In Bruges - review, 7/10

Rating: 7/10 (19 March 2018)

In Bruges was a movie that took it's time to really sink its teeth into me; it began as a slow, chilled-out meander around Bruges (the Belgian town in which the movie is set) that was interspersed with a bit of witty back-and-forth from the two main protagonists (a couple of Irish hitmen preparing to deal with the fallout after a job gone wrong). Whilst the setting of Bruges was interesting in and of itself, I wasn't used to a movie focusing on so little for so long, however, by the time that the stakes were ratcheted up in the second half of the movie I noticed that I had connected with the characters on a level that surprised me.
Of course, this was largely down to the excellent cast, the two main characters Ray (played by Colin Farrell) and Ken (played by Brendan Gleeson) have good chemistry and make their flawed characters endearing and relatable. Some credit should also be given to the writers, the cast were given great lines to work with. Admittedly, I found the comedic tone a little strange (especially the weird midget jokes) but it works when it counts and the movie successfully uses humour to explore the inner demons of the hitmen without trivialising their emotions. A more conventional movie would opt out of taking the opportunity to poke fun of its protagonist's emotional turmoil but that's what makes the movie so refreshing; it strikes a balance between humour and thoughtfulness and gets it (mostly) right, adding a breath of fresh air to an already pretty unique movie. I say mostly as the plot gets more and more ridiculous as it goes on, events start of quite tame but soon Bruges opens up as it's unconvincing locals introduce themselves and devolve into unconvincing plot devices, it was good for a few good laughs but felt very lazy and pulled me out of the movie.
Saying that, I still enjoyed the film, the cast did a good job of holding the movie up as the plot began to thin near the climax. Overall, the entire 'feel' of In Bruges is very... unconventional and while it is lacking in areas, it's setting, characters and humour are still a welcome step back from typical Hollywood blockbusters.