Review: The Boondock Saints II: All Saint's Day

Or: The Irish Matrix

Troy Duffy returns 10 years after making the original Boondock Saints to create The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, a sequel aimed squarely at the fans of the original. Be warned, if you did not see the first movie you will not understand this one. Furthermore, if you did not like the first movie, you surely will not like this one. Though the movie got some serious new assholes torn open by critics, it is understandable; this movie was made as an homage to the fans who made the 1st a success. No one else.

Murphy (Norman Reedus) and Connor (Sean Patrick Flannery) reprise their roles as ‘the saints’ who have been hiding away in rural Ireland with their dad (Billy Connolly) after the events of the first film. After a priest is killed in Boston and the murder made to look like the work of the saints, the boys head back to enact their revenge. On their way back to America, they meet a Mexican, named Romeo (Clifton Collins Jr.), who joins them on their violent quest and fits snuggly into the role of wannabe bad-ass/butt of prejudice jokes that the deceased character Rocco carved out in the first film. Speaking of Rocco, he actually appears in the second film… twice. But I think his character’s place was meant as a funny throwback to the first, not as a way to add substance to the sequel. His dream induced speech about manliness sounded like it was scripted right out of a 90's Denis Leary comedy sketch.

On the other side of the thin blue line, the Boston police department is tracking the aftermath of the saints’ rampage from the 1st film.  This time with Willem Dafoe’s role being replaced by FBI agent Eunice Bloom (played by southern belle Julie Benz). I, for one, did not think this role fit well into the movie and really wished Dafoe hadn't been a douche, and reprised his role in this movie, seeing as his character was probably the strongest thing about the original that made it so likable.

The sad thing is that, in the spirit of fanboydom, Duffy simply makes the film too inaccessible for the masses. What the movie basically boils down to is an Irish Matrix, but some of the stylization that was groundbreaking in 1999 does not fly today.

   
However, in the end, if you like crude f-word laden humor, indie-film stream of consciousness dialogue, stylized music video-esque gunfights, and irish jokes, then this movie is for you. If that isn’t your sorta thing then as the Irish say, “I hope you git your back doors kicked in ya feckin bogger. God knows and eejit like yaself gets a chubber from that sorta shite.”