A Movie That Defies Description (In a Good Way)

Rating: 9/10 (9 September 2008)

Writer/director Martin McDonagh has fashioned a little gem of a crime thriller/black comedy with his film, "In Bruges." It's quirky and eccentric, but in a way that comes naturally and doesn't feel remotely forced. And despite the running joke about Bruges being such a boring and dull place to be, the movie makes the city itself look lovely.
Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) play two hit men who hole up in the titular city awaiting orders from their boss, Harry, played by Ralph Fiennes. Both suffer a crisis of conscience -- Ray because his first hit resulted in his accidentally killing a little boy, Ken because his orders once they come are to bump off Ray, who annoys him but who he rather likes. When Ken tells Harry he refuses to kill Ray, Harry comes after the two men himself, resulting in a quite violent finale.
McDonagh's background in theatre shows, especially in his writing. The screenplay to "In Bruges" is a marvel, tightly wound and compact. It's fresh and surprising, traits that don't frequently describe movie scripts nowadays. The movie is viciously funny, but the relationship between Ray and Ken is also rather moving, and the violence (and boy is it graphic at times) is very disturbing precisely because we come to care so much about the characters it's happening to.
All of the performances, but especially those of Farrell, Gleeson and Fiennes, are superb. McDonagh proves himself to be a good director of actors, and he handles his own material masterfully. He even manages to make midget humor (the stuff of movie comedy clichés) funny again.
Grade: A