"In Bruges" *** (out of ****)I walked into Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges" expecting a Quentin Tarantino, wham bam thank ya mame kind of film. Something loaded with violence and hip dialogue. In some ways it is, but, "In Bruges" goes beyond that and is a film with a surprising conscience.
Colin Farrell plays Ray, a hitman who has just botched a job badly. Now he and a friend, Ken (Bredan Gleeson), another hitman, sent as a sort of guardian, are on the lamb in Bruges (and to answer your question, it is in Belgium) awaiting a call from their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) with further instrustions.
The comedy in "In Bruges" comes from the relationship between Ray and Ken. Ken takes on the role of tourist, wanting to sight see and visit all of the famous spots in Bruges (if such a thing exist) while Ray counts the seconds they are there. At one point he even says, in the middle of the town, "Ken, I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't."
And this bickering continues over and over again. Making Ray the worst travel companion in the world. But notice something else about this dialogue. There is nothing politically correct about it. Ray says just about anything he feels like. Remarks about midgets, mentally disable, Belgium, blacks. It makes no difference to him and oddly, I found myself laughing at things I knew I shouldn't.
But "In Bruges" starts to get a bit more serious minded at times. The conscience of the film comes into play as Ray expresses remorse over his last job. He accidentally killed an innocent person. And this makes Ray take stock of himself. Is he cut out for this line of work. I was reminded of a famous line in "The Godfather". "It's not personal, its business". That is the mentality you would think people like Ray and Ken have but no. Ray understands murder is murder. And he fears one day he may have to face judgement.
I don't want want to you think however the film somehow makes a shift in tone and goes from comedy to drama. Those moments of Ray's self-reflection are laced with humor. But I felt it was refreshing to see a film, a film like this no less, ask these type of questions.
Martin McDonagh is a noted playwright who had only made one short film before this. It won an Oscar and several critics have thrown praise his way for this film. So don't be surprised if McDonagh receives an Oscar nomination for his screenplay. McDonagh seems like a cross between David Mamet and Tarantino. The dialogue has a certain rhythm to it like Mamet. But uses a lot of dark humor like Tarantino.
One of the best scenes in the movie involves the final shootout between two of the characters as they debate where to have, so they don't hurt any innocent people. Leading someone to tell them, why don't you put the guns down and talk, leading one of the gunmen to say, that would be stupid. How do you argue with such logic?
"In Bruges" is a fast and entertaining film with a very good performance given by Farrell, playing his second killer, he was in Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream". And a great over the top performance by Fiennes.
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