In Bruges

Rating: 10/10 (3 April 2009)

In Bruges balances black comedy on a razor wire. It's the kind of movie that makes you sit up and take notice. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are hit men hiding out in Bruges (it's in Belgium) while awaiting on further instruction. Gleeson, the more experienced hit man, wants to take in the sights. Farrell, the novice hit man, just wants to get drunk. Gleeson is at home in Bruges while Farrell is bored out of his wits. Luckily, they stumble upon a movie set that is shooting and meet some eccentrics. They meet the sets drug dealer and a dwarf (Jordan Prentice, who's wonderful) being used for a fantasy sequence. That distraction takes Farrell's mind of his torment. You see he just completed his first job as a hit man and botched it. He made the hit but a child got killed in the process. This is just eating Farrell up inside. In the meantime, the boss calls and Gleeson gets the call, he has to kill Farrell. The boss makes it clear that its unacceptable that a child got killed accidental or not. In a very funny, tense scene, Gleeson is sneaking up on Farrell sitting on a park bench getting ready to kill him only as he gets closer find out Farrell is about to kill himself. So Gleeson stops him from offing himself and sends him on a train so that he wouldn't be found. Gleeson calls the boss tells him that he wasn't going to do it and that he just sent him on a train to god knows where. The boss (played by Ralph Fiennes, who does much with his little screen time) decides to take things in his own hands and go to Bruges himself. All of this builds to a suspenseful and frantic conclusion . You just might find In Bruges well worth a return visit.