The Guard Review

• 12th Jan 2012

One of the great (if not the greatest) underrated films of last year. John Michael McDonagh’s first full-length feature is an absolute, grade A treasure. This was one home grown effort that was criminally under advertised leading up to and during its release. This was a crying shame as it’s on par with In Bruges (quite possibly a tad better at various moments).

In the small Irish town of Galway, local cop, Gerry Boyle, is investigating a series of brutal murders, all of which accumulate in the death of his recently transferred partner from Dublin. All fingers point to local drug dealer and philosophical bad man, Francis Sheehy. With the help of a FBI agent who is assigned to the world wide case, it’s up to Gerry to take them down and avenge the death of his gun-downed colleague.

Paying tribute to action films that formed the bases of the buddy comedy sub-genre back in the 80s (such as Lethal Weapon, 48 Hours, Tango and Cash), this turns out to be an effective little comedy thriller. And, like all good comedies, there are very few moments where it allows you to pause for a breath in-between each bout of uncontrollable chortling, this will likely lead to you missing a good portion of the gags the first time round.

This is certainly one of the best comedies of the last few years and without a doubt the best buddy comedy since 48 Hours. High praise indeed, but then any film this tightly written and performed (along with its Ennio Morricone rifting score) deserves a lauded praise it sadly missed during its cinema release.

Chock full of many great moments, one particular highlight is found within this the shockingly funny conversation between Boyle and his terminally ill mother. Taking place in a small church, they bond and wax lyrical about drugs and whores. It’s both touching and painfully funny at the same time. It shows McDonagh to be as equally talented at writing witty and boundary pushing scripts as his brother. If anything this is more action orientated and less melancholic then In Bruges, but is as un-pc (possibly even more so) then its spiritual predecessor.

Armed with a pitch-black tone and biting dialogue, The Guard is almost certainly one not to miss on its home release. Fans of In Bruges will be shocked to find out just how good this film is. Are you easily offended? Well kick off your prudish shoes and stick your dainty toes into dirty pool of lyrical brilliance. Sure you might feel a little unclean after but the ride there will be worth every F, C and A word uttered from the mouths of the most unlikely individual.

All the performances from the lead bad guys are worthwhile mentioning, even if they are not up to the grandiose heights of Ralph Fiennes’ legendary performance of Harry from In Bruges. Both Liam Cunningham and Mark Strong (is there anything this man is not in at the moment?) churn out two interesting takes on the erstwhile bad men. Often they are found musing on philosophical thoughts before a murder or swearing match. It skirts the fine line of Guy Richie gangster pretension but, thankfully, it works.

Don Cheadle does what he does best (essentially, being Don Cheadle) all stern and moody. But it is Brendan Gleeson’s performance as Boyle that steals the show and rightly so as this is one of his best performances in a while. He shows him to be an all round anti-hero and occasional lawbreaker with a well-intentioned heart (he sleeps with hookers, does drugs with his ailing mother and disobeys his chain of command). It is a testament to Gleeson’s acting ability that he never looses sight of Boyle’s humanity and as the climax quickly approaches, we find ourselves cheering on this rough cop through to the final frame.

The extras are a bit thin on the disc, mainly consisting of a brief making of feature, a selection of trailers and some enjoyable outtakes. One final curious extra is the edition of McDonagh’s first short film The Second Death. Starring Liam Cunningham (and a young Aidan Gillen) this is an interesting little film and will most certainly be a fascinating watch for those currently studying film. Overall, a good package for a little seen film that demands to be watched. Be sure to pick this up then it is released on January 17th.

Dominic O’Brien