The Boondock Saints II: All Saint’s Day (2009)

I have a favorite Irish pub that I frequent in Queens. There’s nothing all that special about it, and I stick out like a sore thumb among the blue-collar bricklayers and ancient Irish barflies, but the beers are cheap and the company is honest. The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day reminds me of that pub.

At the start of this sequel to the 1999 DVD cult-classic, it’s been almost ten years since Connor and Murphy MacManus (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus, respectively) went on a clumsy but effective killing spree of Boston’s biggest mob bosses. Since that time, the boys have been tried and convicted and have escaped with dear old Poppa (Billy Connolly, extra-grizzled but awesome as always) to a humble life as shepherds in the Irish countryside, where they apparently gave each other coordinating big-ass tattoos of Christ on the cross.

But sheep farming is not long for the Saints, so named for their penchant of uttering a prayer for their victims before delivering them to their maker. When they hear about a priest who’s been executed in their old church in their signature style – pennies for the eyes and all – they trim up their “Jesus” manes and hightail it back to the states. Taking the long way in – through Mexico – they meet up with Romeo (Clifton Collins Jr.) a pony-hawked Latino badass, who just happens to be from Boston, and the crew is complete.

Back in Bean Town, detectives Greenly, Duffy, and Dolly (Bob Marley, Brian Mahoney, David Ferry), the three bumbling local cops who helped the boys escape, are trying to keep their secret from FBI special agent Eunice Bloom (Julie Benz of Dexter and Angel fame), who has replaced Willem Dafoe’s Agent Smecker. But that gets harder each time the brothers MacManus take out another gangster with a double tap to the back of the head.

Harsher critics of the Saints will tell you that writer-director (and reputed Hollywood outcast) Troy Duffy is hardly original. And they wouldn’t be wrong. While the first film bore more than a passing resemblance to Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, this follow-up tears a page right out of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather book, elaborating on Poppa’s little-seen past as an ass-kicker. And in both, Duffy loves the slow motion, sliding across the floor, guns blazing scene almost as much as John Woo, but the pastiche of the three styles makes it feel more like homage than plagiarism.

For fans of the first film, The Boondock Saints II bears many similarities to its predecessor. You can expect the return of most of the original cast – in some way. Back on the chopping block are the Yakavetta mobsters, led this time by Consezio (a cartoonishly funny Judd Nelson). You can also expect a bevy of f-bombs and a heavy metal soundtrack cranked up to 11, lest you be confused when it’s time for action.

That action unfolds in a similar “what had happened was” style, as agent Bloom mimics Smecker’s histrionic conductor method of assembling the pieces of a crime scene. But Benz makes it her own, sort of. Hers is an amusing combination of Smecker’s greatest hits, with a healthy dose of southern-fried smack talking a la Brenda Leigh Johnson.

So what’s different? This film is a lot funnier than the first. I actually watched the original film last night after seeing the sequel. Nonetheless, I understood and enjoyed the frequent self-referential humor. (Yes, the boys do find yet another use for Connor’s beloved rope.) There’s also plenty of un-PC “not in a gay way” humor. But Flanery and Reedus are so likeable as the pair of bickering everymen (if everyman had a talent for vigilantism) that it takes the sting out of even their nastiest barbs.

Is The Boondock Saints II high art? Not a chance. There are certainly more sophisticated action stories (and ways of telling them) out there. But the simplicity of the formula – tell an off-color joke, shoot a bad guy, rinse, repeat – is somehow comforting. Not unlike my Irish barflies.