Houston somehow found its way onto the list of limited cities playing "The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day," and I just happened to be in Houston for Thanksgiving. After filling up on turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberries, and stuffing, I ended turkey day with "All Saints Day." And I was pleased. A bit disappointed, but pleased.
"All Saints Day" is the sequel to Troy Duffy's "The Boondock Saints" (2000). In the first film, after killing two members of the Russian mob out of self-defense, Irish-American brothers Murphy and Connor MacMannus (Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flannery, respectively) believe they are on a mission from God to rid the city of Boston of crime. While openly gay FBI agent Paul Smecker (Willem Dagoe) investigates the brothers' continous murders amongst the ranks of the Russian mafia, Boston's citizens herald the brothers as saints.
The sequel has a similar story line...and its execution is a little too similar as well. In the continuation of "The Boondock Saints," the brothers have been in hiding in Ireland with their father, Il Duce (Billy Connolly). But after a beloved priest is killed by someone within the mob, the brothers return to Boston to do what they do best: bring justice to those responsible for the innocent's death. The brothers have a new partner in crim (Clifton Collins Jr., "Star Trek"), a sexy FBI operative (Julie Benz, TV's "Dexter") on their trail, guns in hand...and their rope, of course.
"All Saints Day" was a decent sequel. It had all the action and wit of the first film...but it also had very similar scenes, just with different people (besides the brothers). While I enjoyed the film, it was trying too hard to be like the original. I wanted to see new sly comedy and action-packed fight scenes, not everything I've already seen before. I was pleased with the humor, though a lot of it was the crude comedy of today rather than the sly, natural humor of the original.
Still, if you liked "The Boondock Saints" you don't want to miss "All Saints Day." Benz fives a smart and sexy performance as FBI agent Eunice Bloom, filling the shoes of Willem Dafoe's agent Smecker well enough (though she could never pull it off as beautifully as Dafoe). Collins, who plays Romeo (new partner in crime), serves as the comic relief and does so well, despite all of the forced humor.
Another nice touch to the film is seeing more of Connolly's Il Duce (didn't see much of him in the first.) Duffy gives an intriguing back story of the brothers' father...a story that turns out to be more than just background. And as for Flannery and Reedus? Killer performances. These two actors were made for the roles of the witty MacMannus brothers. Even when repeating similar scenes and lines of the original, they play their characters exquisitely.
Though the movie may have been too much like the original, but not as brilliant as the original (you know, since we've seen a lot of it before), it was completely made up for in the end (don't worry, I won't give it away). And if you're a "Boondock Saints" fan, you'll enjoy the whole thing (the good and the "eh...").
"All Saints Day" is now playing in Austin at Cinemark Tinseltown 17 on South I-35.
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