They killed the cat!

I know I said I don’t often watch movies. But a friend suggested I watch “The Boondock Saints.”  So I did. 

I very vaguely knew what the movie was about, thanks to that friend’s raving about the movie. I knew it involved Irish men shooting guns and killing people. But other than that, I was in the dark. 

The movie started off in a Catholic church. Odd way to start a movie about killing. But I suppose it was a way to humanize and define the characters. We see the main characters, Connor and Murphy MacManus, two Irish brothers, praying and leaving the church. That’s when the fun begins. 

We see our first fight within the first few minutes. 

However, these brothers kill with a higher motive. They act as self-directed vigilantes, killing men they deem bad.  Then their friend from the Italian mafia joins in, both helping and hindering their pursuits.

The characters are fabulous. The force you to form an opinion of them, which helps to connect with them better.

The brothers charm you from the start. Clever quips, funny retorts, they both amuse and make you admire them. Then their “virtue” makes you respect them while their shooter-hero side makes you wish you were as cool as them. The MacManus brothers were easily my favorite characters.

Their Italian friend, Rocco, on the other hand, was a little harder to like. Toward the beginning, he was just the clumsy henchman of the mafia. As he decides to think more independently, though he becomes a stronger character, he kind of becomes more of a jerk. But while he wasn’t a favorite character, you could fell the brothers’ love for him. They viewed him as a brother and deeply cared for him. He and the brothers made him memorable.

We also meet Paul Smecker, an FBI agent sent to investigate the organized crime deaths. He turns out to be a surprisingly likeable character. Despite being the antagonist, he is amusing and adds light to the movie. He makes you laugh, yet shows the other side, the side where the MacManus’ are the bad guys. He doesn’t, however, make you join his side of the story. You can like him and see him as the bad guy. 

I do have one complaint though. I really think they could’ve used the “f-word” a little more.