El Guardia

Something there is that is charming about films set in Ireland with Irish characters speaking in beautiful brogue and THE GUARD fits into that category very comfortably. Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh this is a funny, fast-paced film that manages to poke fun at many points of bigotry (anti-American, racism, the gay lifestyle, etc) in a manner that keeps the comedy rolling. In many ways the film is comparable to the film IN BRUGES, if that helps the reader to categorize in a positive way.

Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleason) is a small-town Irish cop in Western Ireland with a confrontational personality, a subversive sense of humor, a dying mother, a fondness for prostitutes, and absolutely no interest whatsoever in the international cocaine-smuggling ring that has brought straight-laced FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle, in a role that allows him to display his comedic gifts) to his door. Boyle's partner, a gay man Aidan McBride (Rory Keenan), the brunt of many of Boyle's jokes, is shot while making a traffic arrest by the drug smuggling gang (Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, Owen Sharpe, Michael Og Lane) which leaves the cantankerous Boyle to align with the American black FBI agent Everett to solve the case. What begins as a fiction filled alignment ends up as a touching friendship.

McConagh's writing and direction are as fine as they come for films of this sort. It will be necessary for most viewers to turn on the subtitles to understand the brogue (the few Gaelic passages are not translated!). The cast, from the major roles to the minor ones (especially the extraordinarily beautiful Katarina Cas) including Laurence Kinlan and Fionnula Flanagan, is superb. This is a very fine comedy well worth the attention of a very wide audience!

Grady Harp

I saw this movie in Galway at the film Fleadh. Dit it entertain me? Absolutely. Would I buy it on DVD / Blu Ray ? Another yes. Funnier than The Hangover [1st film] In my opinion yes. However just like that film you have to decide very early on to suspend your disbelief and just go along for the ride.

I feel a little for John Michael McDonagh as he will no doubt always walk in the shadow of his brother. Which is a burden most writer / directors do not have to deal with. Already an early reviewer has compared it to In Bruges. I think I gave In Bruges a ten star rating. This has an eight. In Bruges - as extraordinary as it was - had a whiff of truth about it and the danger in the movie was real. Here the action is so cartoon that it generates no tension at all, and you never really fear for the characters. Of course Gleeson is in both movies and in my opinion give a much better performance in In Bruges. . Here he is just having fun. Who can blame him... The characters in The Guard are drawn with very broad brush strokes, and lack any kind of subtlety. The sub-plot involving Fionnula Flanagan feels bolted on and slows the movie down. It's intended to show the main character has a softer side, but you can get that through the thrust of the main story, and the elements are there to take advantage of this. Simple things that could have been done to add a little more realism and heart to the movie that would have generated greater emotion, depth of feeling, tension, jeopardy and ultimately bigger laughs.

At the Q & A afterward it was suggested the script was written in 13 days. Clearly that was just a first draft - but I do think subsequent drafts were not worked hard enough. As sometimes there isn't enough breathing space between the jokes... so the bigger gags / situations don't build in the way they should. Or a moment of compassion is lost because a laugh comes rolling on top of it due to a cheap gag.In that respect it feels to me as if the writer / director is still learning pace and rhythm. It's very common in comedy where a writer doesn't want to lose what he feels is a good gag - but sometimes you have to cut gag A in order to get a bigger laugh on gag B. A stronger script editor on the film could have made all the difference.

So all in all it is a bravo. I very much enjoyed the movie. I do expect John Michael McDonagh to go on to bigger and better things and I wish the movie great success. After all 8/10 is a great score.

Greetings again from the darkness. Writer/Director John Michael McDonagh is the brother of Martin McDonagh, who brought us the excellent In Bruges (which also starred Brendan Gleeson). I figured it best to say that upfront because there is no way to avoid comparisons of the two films. Clearly these men grew up in the same house and were trained in a brilliant method of writing dialogue.

Brendan Gleeson delivers a powerful and hilarious performance as a local cop (Garda) in rural Ireland. His Sgt Gerry Boyle is quite an enigma - he gets along great with locals, yet struggles to fit into society. This is never more apparent than when FBI Agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) hits town on a drug smuggling investigation. The key to their relationship is crystallized at the moment an exasperated Agent Everett says to Boyle, 'I can't tell if you are really smart or really dumb'. Of course, I am paraphrasing because the F-word gets literally worn out in this movie. There aren't many lines I can actually quote in print. But the word rolls off Gleeson's tongue as if it's a work of art ... especially in conversation with his ailing mother, played well by the always terrific Fionnula Flanagan.

The international drug smugglers being chased are a trio led by Liam Cunningham and the always interesting Mark Strong. The endless rips, insults and jokes are fired rapidly at Americans, Brits and anyone unfortunate enough to hail from Dublin. Boyle uses his Irish background as a crutch for his racism and insensitivity. But he leaves no doubt about his expertise as a cop. Heck he even recognizes the importance of some 9 year old kid riding around on a pink bicycle. That's just another example of the off-center approach to story telling offered by McDonagh.

If you are a fan of In Bruges, Snatch, or Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, I think you will enjoy this one. It falls just short of that level, but not by much. Gleeson is outstanding and the story is simple enough, yet with plenty of twist, turns and hilarity.

For everyone who saw and loved In Bruges, have I got the next movie for you…The Guard. This is a fantastic piece of cinema brought to us by John Michael McDonagh, the brother of Martin McDonagh, who was writer/director of In Bruges. This is the first major film directed by John Michael McDonagh and it does not disappoint.

Set in western Ireland, The Guard begins aerial view of a drunk driver cruising down the highway at high speeds. Right from the start it's easy to understand where the humor will come from – Brendan Gleeson, who also played a large role in In Bruges. The car goes out of frame, skids, squeals, and crashes in front of Gleeson's patrol car. Oh, did I mention he's a cop this time? Quite the role reversal. The crash wakes him – slowly – from his day dream and he pulls up to check out the scene. After rummaging through the pockets of one of the people in the car he finds a bag of drugs, which he tosses away from the body, though, not before dropping a tablet of acid for himself. Cut to introductory credits.

If this doesn't get you off, leave the theatre and begin questioning your understanding of what's funny. The rest of the movie is comprised of smartass remarks and brilliant dry humor.

Don Cheadle plays a straight laced, by the books, FBI agent from the States investigating a drug smuggling scheme that's rumored to be happening in the area. These two must work together to find crack an overlapping case (Cheadle's looking for the drug lords, Gleeson's looking for murder suspects – the same people). It's a good buddy-cop narrative between the two and they work really well together.

I don't want to gush too much more over this movie, just go see it. I'll leave you with a quote that should depict a fair picture about the humor in this movie: Gleeson: I'm Irish. Racism is part of my culture.

See this movie. Until next time folks, cheers!

Michael McDonagh is the brother of one of the funniest writers in the world just now. Like him, he is a foul mouthed upstart with a unique ability to investigate Irishness with tremendous energy and vividness.

I was lucky enough to attend the premiere in Edinburgh this week and enjoyed what is another great addition to the McDonagh canon of work.

Inevitably it has to be compared to the superior In Bruges but this is no lightweight cast off. Particularly when it one again focuses on a heavyweight performance by Irish heavyweight, Brendan Gleeson. In "In Bruges" Gleeson had to battle for compliments against Colin Farrell who has never performed better and had most of the best lines. Not here. This is all Gleeson, ably abetted by Don Cheadle as the Black FBI agent drafted in on the back of a glittering career to track down a bunch of slightly bungling drug runners in sleepy old Conemarra - Gleeson's patch.

Gleeson and Cheadle spar well and develop a likable relationship, despite this it's not the heart of the movie; that belongs, again, to Gleeson in a tour de force performance.

Cheadle's good and is a great foil. The baddies are less well developed characters and, for my taste, were slightly too caricaturised.

It's not a life changing film but it has to be seen for Gleeson's complete mastery of McDonagh's marvellous script.