Despite their nom de guerre, the Boondock Saints portrayed in this film are no goody-goody dudes in a white dress, tending the sick and the poor. They smoke, they swear, they pick fights, and they kill criminals in order to root out evil in this world.
The two, a pair of Irish brothers living in Boston, are devout church goers, as well as religious pub attenders, and it's when they're doing the latter, they run into a bunch of Russian mafiosi, who own the building with the pub in it, and tell them the place is closing, and everybody had better fuck off, or else...
The brothers, together with the rest of the pub, go for "or else," and give the mobsters a right seeing-to. Unfortunately for them, one of them finds out where they live, and pays them a visit with one of his cronies, in order to kill them. By a combination of luck and quick thinking, the brothers come out on top, and being a pair of well-raised Irish lads, they turn themselves in. The police agree with their story, and they are not charged with a single thing. However, that night, they get a Message from God, or possibly simultaneous delusional schizophrenia, and their new mission in life becomes to wipe out as many criminals as possible.
Of course, two guys against the whole of organised as well as disorganised crime cannot keep going well, especially once they've worn out their element of surprise, and before long, shit starts to go down. On top of that, the troubled twosome are being chased by FBI agent Paul Smecker, a fantastic role by Willem Dafoe. As the film progresses, his conviction progressively wavers though, since he becomes convinced the Saints, as they are by now known, are doing what he's always wanted to do, but never could.
A well-executed running joke is that Smecker, who is a homosexual, is also a raging homophobe. At some point, he is lying in bed with another man, who then starts to cuddle up to him. Smecker then bitchslaps him until he stops, which leads to the following hilarious snippet of dialogue:
"What the fuck are you doing?"
"I just wanted to cuddle."
"Cuddle? What a fag."
In conclusion, Boondock Saints is a hilarious film, with high amounts of humour and violence and a tit or two, which appeals to the testosterone in me. If you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for? If you have, why not dig it up for another viewing? Invite some mates, crack open a beer, and have a good night.
