In the end what we’re left with is a clear case of style over substance; a rough draft of what could have been a much better film.
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"The Boondock Saints" is an interesting cinematic animal, it´s equal part Tarantino "homage" and John Woo action spectacle but contains neither of what makes both of those filmmakers so distinct. The film is a mish mash, containing moments of black comedy nervously balanced with serious drama as it tries to tackle the issue of vigilantism. The film is enjoyable in popcorn movie sort of way, but "The Boondock Saints: Unrated Special Edition" serves up nothing all too special for this release.
The McManus brothers, Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus), live and work in Boston, where they´re deeply rooted in the community, known and loved by many of the locals. They inadvertently become the "saints of South Boston" when, in self-defense, they kill some small-time hoods in the Russian mob. They turn themselves in to the local police, who have brought in FBI agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe) to work on their case, since it involves organized crime. The brothers are set free, but only after they gain some adoration from the cops and the adoring public.
Realizing that their actions may have some benefit, the brothers take it upon themselves to hunt down and kill the city´s less desirable element, starting with some Russian mob bosses connected to the foot soldiers they just capped. Smecker is assigned to the case, and Duffy stylishly relives the brothers´ actions via flashbacks, which he creates through Smecker´s CSI induced retelling. But Smecker doesn´t know it´s the McManus brothers, nor does the public cry out for justice. The movie simultaneously poses some interesting ideas that films like "Taxi Driver" and "Fight Club" have handled much better.
Soon after their first vigilante undertaking, the brothers are embroiled in a deepening web of street justice. With the help of their friend, Roc (David Della Rocco), a runner for an Italian mob boss, they start going after some of the worse offenders from the underworld food chain. Things start to get worse when those same mobsters hire an infamous assassin named Il Duce (Billy Connolly), who has a surprising connection to the McManus brothers, to go after the "saints".
Duffy weaves a familiar story and, unfortunately, gives it little beyond coating it with his own stylistic gloss, itself an amalgam of filmmakers who do this sort of thing with much better flare. Still, the film is enjoyable for the kind of afternoon B-movie action fare that it is. Duffy´s style is kinetic enough that it makes the action scenes worth watching, though his F-bomb a minute dialogue leaves things lacking a bit in that department.
Dafoe, Flanery and Reedus help the film work. Reedus and Flanery provide a fraternal camaraderie that is very convincing. They´re wonderful foils for each other with Flanery playing the more even tempered brother to Reedus gallivanting hot-head. However, it´s Dafoe who steals the show with his subdued flamboyant mannerisms. The character happens to be homosexual, which isn´t integral to the plot, but adds some off color humor. The way Smecker slowly becomes frustrated by the string of mob murders the brothers are performing is very amusing to watch; he gradually comes to a self realization that he really believes that what the brothers are doing is genuinely for the betterment of society.
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