(I'm gonna be quick this time 'cos the next match (CRO-GER) from the Euro2008 is coming soon...)
"After I killed them, I dropped the gun in the Thames, washed the residue off me hands in the bathroom of a Burger King, and walked home to await instructions. Shortly thereafter, the instructions came through. »Get the fuck out of London, youse dumb fucks. Get to Bruges.« I didn't even know where Bruges fucking was. It's in Belgium."
The Oscar winner (!) Martin McDonagh's first feature film (!!!) is about two hitmen, Ray (Colin Farrell, who is really Irish!) and Ken, whose last action turned out in a wrong way, therefore they need to hide in some "shithole" ("Bruges is a shithole. Bruges isn't a shithole" - offers the options the film, pick your choice), trying to keep some low profile until further instructions. Do I need to mention that they aren't able to sit nicely in their hotel room? And the real conflict is far from their Bruges visit: Harry (essentially I hate Ralph Fiennes, but here he is just good), their principal from London asks for an impracticable job...
After the fact that the film wasn't advertised enough, and then suddenly overhyped by all of the critics I became extremely interested (my personal interest's source is that I really like the city - within a month I'm gonna visit there again:). I have to say the story is over the average but far from being the "movie of the year" and other kinds of enthusiastic reactions I could read. Sometimes I had the feeling that the otherwise really funny conversations were much more important than the story itself (which is perfectly balancing between seriousness and comedy - extra point for the score which enhance this). Farrell is Acting (I appreciate him since the genious Michael Mann's brutally cool Miami Vice), but the biggest merit of the film is the view on Bruges, and Belgium. Drinking Leffe from a bottle (a "gay beer"), making jokes about the country's pedophile cases, or - which is more offensive - about its chocolate could have been some negative image on Belgium and its most touristic city, but somehow between McDonagh's hands and Ken's loveable character (Brendan Gleeson) still working as an effective advertisement.
Definitely worth to watch - if nothing else for, then because it invokes one of my favourite films, Don't Look Now by Nicolas Roeg (which will receive a remake in 2009...). A strong 8 out of 10.
8/10
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