The Guard Post Release

Heck yes The Guard is great. I saw it with a full festival crowd who laughed their festive arses off with me and had me convinced this film is even better than In Bruges but to be fair I need to watch both again to know if the intoxicating effect of a game audience had me overhyped.

Gleeson is so fucking good. SO good. Right from the first scene with him you're like, "Oh ho, here's a character I want to spend 90 minutes with," and he never disappoints. Cheadle is fun too - in fact the entire supporting cast is. Mark Strong may be the go-to villain du jour lately but this one is by far the most fun and his two offsiders are also great. In fact if you're measuring a film by its villains this one kicks the shit out of every other comedy I've seen in 2011.

I think ultimately In Bruges probably does enough to edge The Guard but for a very fun, very black Irish comedy this film is a pure gem and I recommend the feck out of it.

I found it a little ungainly in how the movie shifts to a shootout finale, and I never laughed nearly as much as I did during In Bruges, but yeah, I thought this was a pretty decent movie. I love how Gleeson's character is just the right amount of intelligent and dull-witted, and particularly how his responses to Don Cheadle were essentially, WUT R BLK PEOPL? Gleeson does this sort of thing in his sleep.

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Originally Posted by Gabe T 

I found it a little ungainly in how the movie shifts to a shootout finale, and I never laughed nearly as much as I did during In Bruges, but yeah, I thought this was a pretty decent movie. I love how Gleeson's character is just the right amount of intelligent and dull-witted, and particularly how his responses to Don Cheadle were essentially, WUT R BLK PEOPL? Gleeson does this sort of thing in his sleep.

I felt like the tone of the shootout fit just fine with the rest of the film. The odd approach the film takes to that finale - especially Boyle's tactics - feel completely of a piece with the odd way it treats the car crash scene in which we first meet Gleeson's character. The whole film seems to be building up to a reckoning of some kind and the climax is perfect.

The other thing to understand is that Gerry isn't actually dull witted in any way. At the times he seems dull witted it's an act the character is pulling. It's something streetsmart country folks sometimes do to city folks - pretend to me more simple and unsophisticated than they really are so that the city folks let their guard down and underestimate you - and Gleeson nailed it perfectly for me.

It's like Cheadle says at one point, basically saying what the film has put into the mind of the audience by the end of the first act: "I can't tell if you're really motherfucking smart ... or really motherfucking dumb." But by the end of the movie that's been well and truly answered, for both Cheadle and for the audience. Boyle is sharp as a tack. He's way ahead of everyone and Cheadle's the only one smart enough to catch up to him.

This didn't blow me away like In Bruges - as a director John Michael doesn't seem to have the natural panache of Martin, this feels a little clunkily put together sometimes. But it has a heart that In Bruges was sort of lacking, and in terms of irreverent Irish wit this one comes close enough that I hope the McDonaghs keep up this little rivalry they seem to have going on. And yeah I didn't think Boyle was supposed to be in any way dull-witted, he just doesn't give a fuck.