Posted on: March 20th, 2010 REVIEW: Boondock Saints II

I understand why the first Boondock Saints film is popular. I get it. Hell, when I first saw it I loved it, though admittedly I’ve wised up and now see the flaws of the film, glaringly. That being said, The Boondock Saints is an entertaining little action film.

Then this other little film came out, a documentary called Overnight which followed Boondock Saints writer/director Troy Duffy – basically a nobody bartender who sold his script to Miramax – during the pre-production, production and release of the film. In the process of this, he manages to piss off every single person he comes into contact with, alienate himself from his friends and family, and burn his professional bridges, all while managing to make not one cent off of the picture.

And then someone, somehow, someway let him near a camera, a cast and the money to make another one. If you’ve seen Overnight – and if you are a Boondock fan and haven’t, get ye to a nunnery – the thought of Duffy working in the film industry again is preposterous. Utterly insane. I would have put more money on a chimp being elected President than Troy Duffy continuing his film career.

But there’s one thing that I took away from Overnight, after finishing Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. That one thing is that regardless of whether or not Troy Duffy is the world’s biggest prick (which he certainly is), Boondock Saints II is an embarrassing mess of a film because Duffy is a terrible writer, a terrible director and all around terrible at everything that isn’t smoking cigarettes and drinking. The Boondock Saints II is certainly in the top 5 worst films I’ve ever written a review for.

The sequel takes place a couple of years after the events of the first film; the McManus brothers, along with their father (still called Il Duce?), have been growing their hair and beards out in the sheep fields of Ireland, their laughably fake facial hair distracting us from their puffy-eyed plastic surgery and hangover eye-bags. The brothers find themselves with haircuts and shaves and back in Boston when a priest is murdered, made to look like it was the boys. Naturally, what follows is two hours of the exact same action scenes as the first film, tawdry comic relief, contrived writing, idiotic physics and some of the worst acting I’ve seen. The performances in Boondock II are shockingly embarrassing, across the board. Every actor involved should run out and buy every copy on the shelf so that no one else is subjected to this kind of display. I was mildly disappointed, as I honestly expected much more from Julie Benz – who plays the exact same character as Willam DaFoe, only with a wince-inducing southern accent – and Clifton Collins Jr. -who plays the exact same character as Rocco from the first film, though injected with heaping, seizure-inducing fits of Pee Wee’s Playhouse-itis.

From the first frame, to the last frame, there is not one redeeming quality in the film. May God have mercy on our souls should Troy Duffy make another film,  let alone another Boondock. Whether you love the first film or not, prepare to have your throat burned with bile upon insertion of this disc into your player.

*slide* Oh God my knees... MY KNEEESSSS!!!

Before I forget, what the fuck happened to Sean Patrick Flannery’s face? Was he involved in some sort of freak whipper-snapper accident and needed reconstructive surgery? Because if so, the surgeon did a great job, but if that’s just some routine botox or a nip-tuck, then let that face be a warning to anyone debating a little work. The man is almost unrecognizable from the first film (see picture below). Or maybe he read the script and needed the money so he tried to disguise himself to put off the coffin nail this film has driven into the entire cast.

7 Responses to “REVIEW: Boondock Saints II”

1. Nate Says:
   March 20th, 2010 at 1:02 pm

   Watched about 20 minutes of this a couple weeks ago before shutting it off. Horrible. Can’t believe the actors returned to make it. Dafoe made a good decision starring in Antichrist over this….

2. Katie Says:
   March 20th, 2010 at 1:56 pm

   i no longer love you and i’m sort of okay with that….. but… what’s the first picture from? so much looks like this dude who slept on my couch in college. and i have overnight on my hard drive but refuse to watch it.

3. Katie Says:
   March 20th, 2010 at 2:13 pm

   nevermind… i realized who it is… imma sit here and watch my pre-ordered blu-ray copy of saints 2 and be happy..

4. justmouse Says:
   March 20th, 2010 at 6:03 pm

   totally agree with you. loved the bizarre “quirkyness” of boondocks I, watched the second one, and felt it took hours to wipe the slightly disgusted-just-smelled-something-bad look off my face. also, the fake irish accents from teh first movie, were even more horrible in the second. and while i truly love every single thing billy connelly has ever done, the man is SCOTTISH. were there NO irish actors at all that they could choose from when the cast these movies? ok. nuff said. loved the first, and hope like hell they do not make a third.

5. Ryan Ferrier Says:
   March 20th, 2010 at 6:47 pm

   Thanks for the comment, JustMouse! I should point out though, that the two McManus brothers ARE actually Irish… the acting was just THAT bad!

6. Ryan Ferrier Says:
   March 20th, 2010 at 8:39 pm

   Holy shit, nevermind, neither of the brothers are from Ireland. I could’ve sworn at least Norman Reedus was. Huh.

7. kitty Says:
   June 29th, 2010 at 3:30 pm

   What… even the cinbematography was unnerving i had to take a tums. ok i thought the mexican dude with the big eyes was seriously funny n good 4 this part in this particularly weird movie 2 n the fbi chick is hot n can spank us all. but what happenes to sean patrick flanery’s face its redunculous i would rather see him aged n tore up than puffy from eye surgery fillers n botox. But i’d see 3 if they got another writter with sum mafia experience. it was like watching 300, then the meet the spartans… The criticts 3 az

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