Very Good Second Work for McDonagh

Rating: 8/10 (24 February 2008)

"In Bruges" is writer/director Martin McDonagh's second film (the first being 2004's "Six Shooter"). I never saw the latter, but I saw the former last night, and it is a very good, very entertaining movie. McDonagh still has something to learn about writing, but he's nearly there, and I think I should have to keep an eye on IMDb for further works by this guy.
"In Bruges" is a great collection of well-crafted sequences. First is the opening exposition on Bruges itself, a doddering old medieval town which Irish felon Ray (well played by Colin Farrell) despises outright. His entire commentary on frumpy tourist towns early in the film is hysterical and quite accurate (I've been to a lot of frumpy tourist towns and thought most of what Ray says more than once).
The film continues on with other hysterical scenes, like Ray's encounter with obese Americans (this film is quite hard on America, actually, but I didn't mind one bit). There's also a botched robbery, where typical tourist-town criminals try to roll Ray for cash, and get far more than they bargained for.
The film then moves on to introspective moments. Here is where Farrell's co-star, Brendan Gleeson, comes to the fore. He plays a quiet career criminal with a conscience, concerned for the future of Ray's very soul. I can't go into detail without announcing spoilers, but these scenes are good, too.
Then there's a great closing sequence where the astoundingly profane crime boss, fantastically played by Ralph Fiennes, catches up to the two hit men for a big showdown in the doddery village.
There are so many great moments and characters in this film, I couldn't really type them all up. But here's a quick list: a one-eyed thief; a racist dwarf; a goofy European movie set; a tourist trap ticket-taker who takes his job waaay too seriously; a beautiful local drug dealer; horse tranquilizers; a vulgar phone message; and a pair of smoke-phobic Canadians.
My one and only problem with this film is the overall writing. As I said, there are a lot of great sequences in this film, and a lot of great dialogue. However, there's something not quite right with the structure of the piece. It has been said that the two toughest parts about writing a story are the beginning and the end. McDonagh seems to have trouble with beginnings, this film is quite fragmented up front and takes a while to build up steam. I found this quite distracting. He also doesn't really segue well. Sometimes you're wondering "why did we move to this scene?", although once you do get there, you love what you're seeing.
I think McDonagh is well on his way, though, for these flaws are something that can be overcome given adequate effort and experience. Overall, I liked "In Bruges", and recommend it for those who like goofy criminal capers with a heart.