| Worth a watch |
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| written by Texan99 |
September 4, 2010 - 4:09 PM PDT |
| Both my husband and I enjoyed this very much. I was bowled over by Colin Farrell's unexpected performance. The running joke was that he hadn't any use at all for the charm of the old section of the beautiful town of Bruges, which serves as an eye-popping backdrop for nearly all of the action. The scenery evokes Breughel paintings even before Farrell's character's partner drags him along on a culture tour, where the images of the torments of the damned worm their way into Farrell's tortured conscience. Lovely screenplay and no wasted characters. |
| Servicable movie in its genre |
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| written by abcdefz |
March 14, 2009 - 10:29 AM PDT |
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4 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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There probably were quirky bad guy movies before RESERVOIR DOGS (DOG DAY AFTERNOON comes to mind -- hey!), but Tarantino made a blueprint of sorts for a lot of crap to follow.
And some good stuff. This is one of the good ones.
I'd probably rate it higher if I weren't sort of tired of this stuff. So why did I even rent it? Because I'd heard that it was one of the good ones. And it is.
The leads are all fine to terrific (Fiennes steals the show late in the game); the plot is well constructed and more or less believable in its own universe. It's well-crafted, and certainly worth a look. |
| (Faux) Honor Amongst (Faux) Hitmen |
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| written by talltale |
July 9, 2008 - 12:54 PM PDT |
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1 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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An early contender for "crap movie of the year," IN BRUGES should also lay to rest any more clamoring about how fine a writer is Martin McDonagh. At least, if the movie under consideration here is a good example of his work. His burnished reputation as a playwright had made me sorry I couldn't afford Broadway prices to sample his plays. Now I simply feel relieved. McDonagh's dialog constantly calls attention to itself-- Oh, how clever! Isn't that unusual! -- until you could easily poke the author's eye out with a quill pen.
Further, the characters have no real depth, no matter how hard the actors may try to breathe life into them. Instead, they simply do the author's bidding, with a vengeance. The twists and turns alternate between the obvious and the stupid (the last of these, which hinges on the Ralph Fiennes character's sense of honor, is ridiculous). My companion gave up midway, but I lasted it out--just to learn if things could possibly get worse. They did. Saving grace: the city of Bruges does look lovely, despite the Colin Farrell character's cretin-like assessments. This is "black comedy" for people with little sense of humor and a taste for cheap and usually bloody ironies. |
| Look! Midgets! |
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| written by troublemaker |
June 17, 2008 - 1:06 AM PDT |
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5 out of 6 members found this review helpful
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LEWD, OFFENSIVE, and VIOLENT -- in the best way possible.
One of the best dark comedies I've seen in ages. If I had not accidentally wandered into a screening of this film, I probably would have dismissed it entirely given the impression I had of it from trailers. Not for the light of heart or easily offended, but for those with a slightly twisted sense of humor, this film is nothing but a treat.
Director Martin McDonagh is most well known as an award-winning Irish playwright, acknowledged for his love of quick dialogue and swift changes in mood and pace within his stories. Both elements play heavily in his feature debut, and work well in creating a film that is 1/3 existential drama, 1/3 dark comedy, and 1/3 action. Both smart and witty, I'm going to say Focus Feature F'd up in trying to advertise this film like it was some cookie-cutter 90's-era type of crime film. It assuredly isn't, and is far better than what you think this movie is like. Trust me. |
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