In Bruges

In Bruges (2008)

Directed by: Martin McDonagh

Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes

Other Actors of Note: Jordan Prentice

Plot: Bruges, the most well-preserved medieval city in the whole of Belgium, is a welcoming destination for travellers from all over the world. But for hit men Ray and Ken, it could be their final destination; a difficult job has resulted in the pair being ordered right before Christmas by their London boss Harry to go and cool their heels in the storybook Flemish city for a couple of weeks. Very much out of place amidst the gothic architecture, canals, and cobbled streets, the two hit men fill their days living the lives of tourists. Ray, still haunted by the bloodshed in London, hates the place, while Ken, even as he keeps a fatherly eye on Ray's often profanely funny exploits, finds his mind and soul being expanded by the beauty and serenity of the city. But the longer they stay waiting for Harry's call, the more surreal their experience becomes, as they find themselves in weird encounters with locals, tourists, violent medieval art, a dwarf American actor shooting a European art film, Dutch prostitutes, and a potential romance for Ray in the form of Chloë, who may have some dark secrets of her own. And when the call from Harry does finally come, Ken and Ray's vacation becomes a life-and-death struggle of darkly comic proportions and surprisingly emotional consequences. Taken from www.imdb.com.

Some images are just so profoundly bizarre that I can't think up "funny" captions.

Noir Comedy is what it's all about these days (these days being the last 10 or so years.) Noir comedies have been coming out the woodwork including the good ("Kiss Kiss Ban Bang", "The Whole Nine Yards", "Big Trouble"), the bad ("The Ice Harvest", "Analyze This") and the ugly ("The Big Hit", "Employee of the Month")

"In Bruges" is the tale of Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), a couple of Hitmen who after a semi-bungled job are sent to Bruges, Belgium to hide out. Ken enjoys himself but Ray hates the place and spends most of his time getting drunk and feeling sorry for himself over aforementioned bungling. There's really not much else about the plot I can give away without ruining it.

Beautiful women: Turns out Belgium has them too!

There are no stand-out performances in this film but that's mainly because everyone's so freaking amazing in it.

Colin Farrell plays the best role of his entire career thus far and probably from this point on. I am of the personal opinion that Colin Farrell is an incompetent bastard of an actor, and haven't enjoyed a performance by him since he played Jesse James all the way back in 2001 in "American Outlaws," but I can't help but say this is the performance he was born for.

Brendan Gleeson is wonderful as well (I must admit my American-ness by shamefully admitting that in my eyes he's still the cantankerous sheriff from "Lake Placid" in my eyes) as Farrell's straight man sidekick who still manages to be funny in his own right.

The big show stealer here is Ralph Fiennes who "Harry Potter" fans won't recognize as the man who plays Voldemort because in this movie he has a nose. Once Fiennes' character Harry comes into the picture he steals every scene he's a part of and even tops Farrell's hilarious performance in the latter third of the movie.

For those wanting to know why I put Jordan Prentice on the "other actors of note list" it's because he played "Howard the Duck" and I couldn't pass that one up.

The story of "In Bruges" is done very well. The movie segues perfectly between humor and seriousness. Oft times it's difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins and I felt this was a nice touch as it wasn't simply a serious of gags set amongst a serious backdrop.

Every line from Colin Farrell's mouth is pure offensive gold. While Fiennes, Prentice, and Gleeson all have their own memorable lines, Farrell is consistently wonderful delivering one-liner after one-liner consistently throughout.

The characters are all put together between two troubled hitmen, their overly honorable boss who enjoys saying "fuck" just a little too much, the love interest who sells hard drugs to Belgian film crews, the pregnant innkeeper, the racist midget film star, the Amsterdam hooker who came to Bruge to get a better price, the one eyed skinhead, the eccentric Russian arms dealer, and even the overly prickish ticket seller at the Bruge bell tower all mesh well into a wonderfully funny and well done ensemble cast.

Noir is a genre where every character is flawed, and "In Bruge" sticks with that tradition. What it does different, however, is while no one character is inherently "good", no one character is inherently "bad" either. Even Harry, arguably biggest prick in the entire film is a family man with a sense of honor and a respect for life.

Man, everyone really DOES want Colin Farrell dead.

"In Bruges" is one of the best movies I've seen. It's one of my early prospects for Oscar material and I only hope it is at least nominated for best picture.

I give "In Bruges" a 5 out of 5. It's out on DVD now, go pick it up.