Weekly Movie Reviews

#4 - In Bruges

In Bruges
Director: Martin McDonagh
Starting: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson
My Rating: 9/10
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Summary:
Ray and Ken are two professional hitmen, who are sent on orders to execute a priest. But, during the job, Ray accidentally murders a small boy. So, their employer, Harry, tells them to hide out in Bruges, Belgium while the heat goes down.
Bruges is a historical town, filled with dozens and dozens of sights for tourists to see. So much culture, art, and history. Ken adores the city, finding it charming and quaint. But Ray shows extreme distaste for it, wanting to do nothing but go drinking at the pub to wash away the guilt of murdering the boy. Although at one point, he does meet a girl, and they fancy each other quite a bit. So that keeps him relatively happy.
However, at one point in their trip, Harry calls Ken and asks him to kill Ray, since he killed the boy. Ken hesitates, and must decide whether he is going to kill his friend, or spare him and have Harry make him pay for it.
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Cinematography:
The film is the debut of director Martin McDonagh. And if any of his other films are as good as this one, I am very excited to view them. This movie was wonderfully shot, edited, and written. The dialogue feels natural, coming out as fast and witty when the movie is funny. And dark and heavy when the movie is serious.
The genre is categorized as a Thriller/Comedy/Drama, and most people avoided it on account of it being "just another hitman movie." But In Bruges, honestly, isn't like other movies. It's got British black comedy sprinkled on top of a truly depressing and dark drama. The thriller part doesn't really apply until the end of the movie, so I don't consider it one. And the whole 'hitman' concept really isn't emphasized as much as most other films. And it comes off as more of a black-comedy-drama kind of deal. Which I greatly enjoy.

Anywho, lets talk about the filming. The shots are good. Thats all. Kay bye.

The effects are amazing. I've never seen anyone actually jump off a building and fall to their death, but after seeing this movie, I'm fairly certain I know what it looks like. The violence effects are great, and every bullet fired really impacts you in the climax. There is no CGI effects from what I saw, and it all looks practical. I love that kind of look.

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Acting:

The acting is superb. Any performance from Colin Farrell is always an amazing thing to watch, and this role is no different. Ray is fast, foul-mouthed, and comedic at times but can easily turn depressed, moruning, and regretful in seconds. And it's all conveyed through excellent dialouge and facial expressions.

Ken is also fantastic, but people tend to shadow him behind Colin. Brendan Gleeson is a grossly underrated actor, and I'd say his performance as Mad Eye Moody in Harry Potter has brought him down. He did a great job as that character, but I just think that that shouldn't be the most recognized role since Ken is far better. I might even say that he's better than Ray.
Another role that stood out quite a bit was Harry, the duo's employer who is pretty god damn crazy. You may know of the infamous line floating around the Internet of "YOU'RE AN INANIMATE F*CKING OBJECT!"
Yeah. That's from him. And he's got plenty of dialogue like that. So it's fun hearing this vulgar, psychotic, yet surprisingly human character interact with others. I would say the actor's name, but I just can't remember it. Look him up.
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Overall:
Yeah. I love In Bruges. And for the record, it's pronounced "Brooj" since a lot of people who haven't watched the movie are mistaken.
After some exposure to small viewings of other British crime movies, however, I suppose I can see some cliches that follow. But I shall not let that ruin this for me, since the core movie itself is wonderful. The acting is great, the violence is great, the story is intriguing, the characters are rich, the messages are powerful, I adore it.
So, since it's on Netflix, it's at least worth a watch to you. It's not some art film that's hard to follow, nor is it a non-stop brainless train of action. So the common audience should manage to leave entertained.
Overall Rating: 9/10