Film Diary 2011: The Guard (From The Argus)

Film Diary 2011: The Guard

1:39pm Monday 12th September 2011 in Blogs By Owain Paciuszko - Seat 13

Brendan Gleeson in The Guard

From the brother of the director of In Bruges is both a good indication and an act of potentially damanging misdirection on the part of The Guard, whislt John Michael McDonagh's film shares certain unruly DNA and leading actor Brendan Gleeson with his brother's (Martin) cult comedy, this is very much a different beast.

Gleeson plays Sergeant Gerry Boyle, an Irish Garda working in Galway who is more than 'content' coasting along at his own pace, whether that's taking a few drugs found at the scene of a car crash or organising himself a couple of prostitutes for his day off. His world is shaken by the arrival of a new officer Aidan McBride (Rory Keenan) and later FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle), who believes a gang of criminals are planning to smuggle $500 million worth of drugs off of a boat in the area.

It is the relationship between Wendell and Gerry that provides much of the film's comedic highpoints, Gleeson gives Gerry an endearingly antagonistic, self-deprecating and self-aware attitude that is perfectly defined by Wendell when he remarks: "I don't know if you're really smart or really stupid." (Though he throws in a few more expletives.) And whilst this provides plenty of banter as quotable as Martin's In Bruges ("I'm Irish. Racism is part of my culture.") the film has a peculiar style that is closer to Tarantino in its flip-flopping between melancholy, bombast and humour.

McDonagh's film is confidentally directed and buoyed by a perfectly assembled cast with a number of truly stand-out scenes, one between Boyle and crook Liam O'Leary (David Wilmot) is a deft balance of comedy and tension again similar to much of what Tarantino achieved in Inglourious Basterds.

An off-beat, witty and intelligent film from John Michael McDongagh, that goes some way to suggest that Martin McDonagh's next film may be credited; From the brother of the director of The Guard!

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