The Boondock Saints

The Boondock Saints is a 1999 American vigilante action thriller film written and directed by Troy Duffy. The film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as fraternal twins, Connor and Murphy MacManus, who become vigilantes after killing two members of the Russian Mafia in self-defense.

Plot
Tired of the crime overrunning the streets of Boston, Irish Catholic twin brothers Conner (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) are inspired by their faith to cleanse their hometown of evil with their brand of zealous vigilante justice. As they hunt down and kill one notorious gangster after another, they become controversial folk heroes in the community. But Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe), an eccentric FBI agent, is fast closing in on their blood-soaked trail.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Most of the action is just bad quick cut scenes that zoom in on the aftermath of shots of people shooting up a storm. All of it's violence is just plain ridiculous and silly.
 * 2) It glorifies religious extremism, and it isn't properly treated at all. In fact, this movie is very dishonest because it made no attempt to be critical or take the premise anywhere at all. Subjects such as fundamentalism, judgment, punishment, etc., are not taken anywhere at all.
 * 3) The whole storyline is rather lousy, weak, and doesn't make sense most of the time. It's literally about two Irish Catholic brothers who decide to kill evil men in South Boston.
 * 4) * It also seems like a very poor excuse to show Irish people cussing at each other.
 * 5) The acting is extremely horrendous. The Irish accents are extremely awful. There are even traces of overacting throughout, especially from Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as the twins.
 * 6) Every single character is horribly written. For example, Willem Dafoe literally plays a gay FBI agent. None of them develop in any way, meaning you won't be able to care about them in any way.
 * 7) * On the topic, the two brothers are supposed to be Catholics, but sadly, they lack any form of morality whatsoever, meaning they can be considered sinners.
 * 8) Apparently you can kill people as long as you believe in God.
 * 9) The jokes are terribly written and painfully unfunny. For example, the gay FBI agent calls his lover a "fag", and the bartender at a gay bar a "fairy".
 * 10) * Also, the jokes about the gay FBI agent are milked several times to the point where it just gets tiring after a while.
 * 11) The movie tried to be like the movies, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs but fails miserably.
 * 12) The gay FBI agents dress as a woman in the end to help the brothers. Yes, that's the ending of the movie.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Willem Dafoe's performance as the gay FBI agent is pretty decent.
 * 2) Good soundtrack.

Critical Response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 28% based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 4.24/10. The site's consensus calls the film, "A juvenile, ugly movie that represents the worst tendencies of directors channeling Tarantino." However for some reason, the film received positive reviews from the audiences, and it gains a strong cult following, having a 7.8/10 on IMDb. On the other hand, many viewers claimed that it's a great start of the Boondock Saints series, others dismissed that it's a bad and disappointing way to start the series.

Box Office
In its original run, the film only earned $30,471 at five theaters, and the movie received a box office bomb.

Trivia

 * There is a documentary film Overnight was released in 2003, that follows the story of Troy Duffy during his negotiations with Miramax over movie script, as well as his band's struggles to secure a recording contract.


 * There was going to be a video game based on the movie, but it was canceled.