Exceptional!

Rating: 9/10 (20 July 2008)

This is McDonagh's first feature, and it's a sure bet that he's a writer/director to watch in the future. In Bruges was advertised as a straight comedy featuring gangsters who like to shoot at each other, so the three-dimensional characters and emotional depth come as a nice surprise. Colin Farrell, who, if he hadn't already convinced me he was a great actor, certainly wins that title now, stars as a green hit-man with a short attention span who messes up his first job by killing an innocent bystander. Things seem to be okay with the boss (Ralph Fiennes), who sends Farrell and his partner, Brendan Gleeson, to the beautiful Belgian town of Bruges to wait for their next instructions. The fact is, Fiennes plans for Gleeson to snuff out Farrell. That's the basic set-up, and it would be criminal to reveal too much more. McDonagh's script is a thing of beauty, quick-witted, smart and frequently touching. I did think that the final twists were a bit overly clever. Jordan Prentice, who plays the dwarf Jimmy in the film, began his career as one of several dwarfs inhabiting the Howard the Duck costume in the film of the same name.