Excellent, bloody dark comedy

Rating: 9/10 (30 November 2017)

Two killers find themselves in the medieval town of Bruges for a little involuntary R'n'R after a hit goes tragically wrong. One of the shooters, Ken (Brendan Gleeson) finds the old city quaint and fascinating, the other Ray (Colin Farrell) despises it as a boring backwater in a tedious country. Both the leads and Ralph Fiennes, who plays their profane, volatile boss Harry, are excellent in a clever, sharply scripted story of a short but bloody path to redemption. Religious symbolism is deftly woven in throughout the movie, in which Bruges serves as heaven, purgatory, or hell depending on the character, including imagery from Hieronymus Bosch's famous painting Last Judgment (itself sort of a 'black comedy'). Overall, an excellent, if somewhat violent and profanity-rich, film.