In Bruges (2008)

I'd be the first to admit, there are some movies I just avoid, simply because of who is starring it. I know it is easy to by pass a movie because of how it looks in the trailer or by being of a genre that doesn't stimulate you much, but for years I would steer clear of movies starring either Russell Crowe or Colin Farrell. A mix of their bad boy rep in the tabloids and reports and how overrated I believed they were as actors. I famously found Ridley Scott's Gladiator to be a very glossy but deeply shallow with a deadly flat and wooden performance from Oscar winning Russell, but after years of carefully missing his pictures I watched American Gangster and 3:10 To Yuma virtually back to back and his great, natural and diverse performances in both finally buried the unfair grudge I had long held against him, of which I am very pleased about, as it means I am open to more movies, which to me, is a great thing.

I also felt a little bitter towards Farrell as he was of similar age to Ed Norton and Christian Bale, two of my favourite actors, and for many years received the success and fame I think they both clearly deserved too. I had also watched a fair handful of his flicks and found them to be boasting big budgets and, well not much else. I threw away my grudges with Farrell and dived straight into In Bruges after a few friends had recommended it to me...

British director/writer Martin McDonagh brings us his second movie in four years. Following on from Six Shooter (a movie I haven't seen yet but judging from what I have read about it, it seems to be in a similar vein in style and substance as In Bruges, of which in my opinion would make him and up and coming Guy Richie wannabe) It is a gently paced Irish/British gangster flick set in Bruges, where two hit men are sent and awaiting instructions from their crime Boss. That is the simple layout of this slick little independent movie, that starts off quite slow and with it's excessive use of shaky handheld shots makes it quite hard to get into, but given 20 minutes you soon find where you are with the humour and relationship between the two central leads, Farrell as Ray the slightly slow and new to the business hit man and the ever brilliant and sturdy Brendan Gleeson as Ken the wise and seasoned veteran.

The back story for the characters unravels at a slow but intriguing pace and is a solid idea and adds to quite a nice amount of depth to the main characters. A few funny set pieces and sub plots help to liven things up until the plot thickens, if predictably, to why the guys are actually in Bruges. At this point, we are introduced to The crime boss, Harry, played enjoyably and completely over the top by Ralph Fiennes. The movie picks up pace here as it speeds along to it's climatic violent conclusion.

Throughout the movie, I started to feel I was watching something that was very special indeed, McDonagh has a brilliant sense of humour in the same style of Ritchie and Tarrantino and some of the intial scenes are laugh out loud funny and made a perfect bitter sweet mix blended with the touching back story. The main highlight of the movie for me was how blown away I was by Farrell's performance, he nails the character, the young and willing criminal that doesn't quite have the streetwise mind yet and is pretty doomed form the start, a character that is almost obligatory in a gangster movie, has never been as perfectly polished as it is here rounded with McDonagh's clever wit and Farrell's pitch perfect performance.

The only let down is the main plot, of which moments before the climax, becomes completely obvious and not half as clever and thrilling as it is set out to be but extremely violent and a tad silly. You realise that while you were enjoying and getting into the main characters and their shenanigans this clunckly collection of ingredients had shamelessly been added to the mix one by one serving no real depth or purpose other than solely for their turn in the movies final scene "twist". A whole character, his clothes and quotes mentioned all come together so predictably and and totally implausibly that it really does shave a lot of the movies strengths off in the closing moments.

Still, it is a pretty decent watch if you aren't too offended by excessive bad language and occasionally bloody and shocking violence. This still stands as a success simply because it is only McDonagh's second picture so he clearly has lots and lots of room to grow and that is an exciting thought.

In Bruges "Superb casting and at times a very strong and brilliant script, let down by a very shoddy and over worked out plot climax, this is definitely worth a watch for Farrell's best performance to date, alone" ***