In Bruges

Rating: 6/10 (30 December 2011)

A film that reaches for both profound redemption drama and Tarantino-style comic banter and falls short on both accounts. On the comic side, there are maybe a few clever bits but most of it is stuff from the same old bag of gags, with a few homophobic lines thrown in for good measure. It fares slightly better with the drama, although Farrell (who I can't stand looking at... those freak eyebrows and tiny mouth... it's amazing I like THE NEW WORLD as much as I do) doesn't really go through a transformation so much as he keeps shifting back and forth between dickhead and swell guy. We're asked to accept Gleeson as the sage, soulful elder hit-man but even though I liked his performance, the character feels manufactured. Also the ending is possibly the lamest example of dramatic irony I've ever seen. You could almost hear McDonagh quietly and smugly chuckling to himself as he thought of it. The cinematography and score are pretty good, and I really did enjoy Gleeson, but otherwise I didn't dig this very much.