In Bruges

[megladon8]

A new comedy about hitmen, starring Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes and Brendan Gleeson.

Trailer is here. (http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/inbruges/trailer1/)


I loved the similarly themed The Matador, and this seems to have the same type of sarcastic humor.

And with that cast, I have to say I'm definitely looking forward to this.

Looks like it could be quite good.

[Doclop]

I had never heard of this until I saw the trailer before Atonement. Looks decent, but unless it scores pretty enthusiastic reviews, it's probably a film I'd rent at best.

[transmogrifier]

I had never heard of this until I saw the trailer before Atonement. Looks decent, but unless it scores pretty enthusiastic reviews, it's probably a film I'd rent at best.

So, with this line of reasoning in place, walk us through how you ended up seeing National Treasure 2.

:)

[Ezee E]

When I saw Atonement I thought this was the trailer for Woody Allen's movie with Colin Farrell and I went, "WTF!?!??"

[Doclop]

So, with this line of reasoning in place, walk us through how you ended up seeing National Treasure 2.

:)
Busted!

[DSNT]

Doesn't look great, but I'll see it because Bruges is a cool city.

[krazed]

I think it looks really entertaining. I'm excited.

[Wryan]

There are some shots in that where Fiennes doesn't even look like Fiennes. And not even in a "he's wearing makeup" kinda way. Strange.

Looks funny though.

Yay Gleeson yay!

[Sven]

Looks cute. I like:

Midget: You don't know karate.

Midget gets karate chopped in the neck and falls down.

[DavidSeven]

Looks cute. I like:

Midget: You don't know karate.

Midget gets karate chopped in the neck and falls down.

I laughed.

[Grouchy]

The first scene in that trailer is a Sin City reference, right?

Looks good.

[megladon8]

I wonder what it is about hitmen that seems to work so well with comedy.

Perhaps it's the fact that it's such a morbid and "evil" concept - getting paid to kill - that infusing it with comedy makes it even funnier.

[monolith94]

It was a good movie. Not really all that funny, but a very, very good movie. So, should we move this thread over to the general film discussion board?

[Raiders]

Maybe my love of McDonagh's masterfully grotesque "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" unfairly hurt my opinion on this film, but this film seemed so tame and rather unoriginal. I expected more moments like the opening shots of gore and less wandering about the city in the same style a multitude of filmmakers before have done. Plus, Farrell, an actor whom I like, didn't seem childish enough to pull this off. There should be an almost unknowing insensitivity and juvenility(sic) to his behavior, but the actor doesn't really exude anything but immature sarcasm. Therefore, certain revelations and dichotomies in the film, such as a midget--a character with a child-like stature--being more mature than Farrell's Ray, don't really work.

I think McDonagh is hampered by the familiarity with his brand of black humor and grotesquerie in modern cinema, whereas on the stage, he's brilliantly subversive and nauseating (in a good way). He doesn't really do anything unique or push any boundaries, and his filmmaking style and moments of black humor aren't really enough to make me very satisfied with the end result.

[monolith94]

I didn't see this film as trying to push boundaries so much as just tell a ripping good story about a darker side of humanity, and how we can each have a visceral reaction to the horror in every day existence. The sequence when they visit the art museum, for example, and they witness the medeival artwork depicting human viviscection alone is striking. And the scene in the park, where Farrel breaks down and cries into Gleeson strikes me as going beyond just immature sarcasm. I also don't see how the midget (dwarf) was any more "mature" than Farrell's character, and I don't think that idea would even be central to the story.

[number8]

Bleh.

[monolith94]

Bah. You're spoiled!

[Ezee E]

Surprisingly smarter than what the trailer made it out to be. A strange mix of comedy and drama here, and both succeed. At first, some of it seemed out of line with the midget subplot, but by the end, I was still involved with everything going on, and the narration at the end sold me.

[Pop Trash]

It's not bad. I kept going back and forth on how much I liked it. It's certainly better than its lame trailer. The trailer makes it seem like some sub-Tarantino, Guy Richie-esque 'quip quip bang bang' type thing, but it is better than that. The tone is quite melancholy. Brendon Gleeson is stellar here. Colin Farrel is passable but he still acts with his eyebrows too much. I didn't care for Ralph Finnes (who I normally like a lot) since it was clear his role and acting were attempting to out do Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast and you just can't fuck with that performance/character.

It does seem like a film made by a playwrite since it tends to lean on the dialogue/plot and acting to propel the story forward. It also seems a wee bit scripted, pat, and schematic. It did remind me a bit of the better Sonatine (Kitano) in that both movies are about hitmen hiding out somewhere until the dust settles and this place representing an existential 'state of being' where in the characters reflect on their own life and have a hyper awareness of their own mortality.

I think I'd like it more if the gangster/hitman genre wasn't as exhausted as it is. I think if you are going to make a film in this genre and your name isn't Tarantino or Scorsese, you'd better make it quite awesome. This comes close but not quite.

Overall I'd give it a 6 or 7 out of 10. Can't quite decide yet.