My review: http://www.worldofkj.com/article.php?i=380

Color me disappointed with The Guard - - sure I dug it's skewed tale with a skewed protagonist, but the director just barely kept the story spinning (whereas his brother's story spun so fast it took flight, reached escape velocity, and went into orbit in In Bruges.)

There's plenty of laughs and a few legitimate thrills but it's second string.


3 out of 5.

If it's not as deftly handled or flat-out hilarious as In Bruges, it's perhaps even more mature and layered. Its pace is more leisurely and its tone more serious, but there's still that pitch-black comedy and genre inversion that made that film (along with something like Hot Fuzz) work so well. I agree with Bradley that the story never really takes off like you want it to (I could've done with this being a bit longer, especially to better lead into the explosive climax), and a lot of the side characters get the shaft (I wanted more of Mark Strong's vitriolic villain), but the dialogue is spot-on and Gleeson is fantastic. If there's any justice, he'll get some awards recognition and maybe even win a Golden Globe to match Colin Farrell's. The ending is suitably dark and melancholy, if a little abrupt, but that comes with the McDonagh territory I suppose.

I definitely needed subtitles a lot of the time, though.

The Guard

A hilarious black comedy, and Brendan Gleeson is fantastic as Boyle. John Michael McDonagh's a brilliant director and a crafty writer, and much like Calvary, he's crafted a brilliant and very Irish comedy here. Love the contrast between the high-flying pace of the FBI agent and the cool and careless Connemaran sergeant. Not to mention the humour! Also, you can see the craft and the budget at play, and the shortcuts made, which made it even more enjoyable. The ending was exciting and the mystery over Boyle's death (which really isn't much of a mystery) is a nice little trick to sign off with. I could see people calling this a nice little film, but that's the beauty of it. Ireland isn't big on the world stage, and neither is this film, but it is no less great. It's loaded with quality. I had a blast, and I'm just disappointed I did not see this sooner. A

I cannot wait for more from JMM (in my opinion the more talented brother). I shall have to see War on Everyone now. Not looking forward to the annoying Michael Peña, but it does have David Wilmot and Caleb Landry Jones to counter. So who knows.

This is a great film, and one of the best of that year, I saw it around 2012 and it's my favorite film of JMM. The war on everyone is a bit of a step down from this, and Calvary, but I still enjoyed it.

So this is the highest-grossing independent film at the Irish box office ever, taking in 4.13 million Euros. Wow, I had no idea it was that loved. It grossed more than The King's Speech, The Hangover 2, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. What a success story.

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2011/0 ... -theguard/

To put that gross in perspective, here is the all-time top ten:

1. Avatar (2009) - € 8,702,770
2. Titanic (1998) - € 8,253,298
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) - € 6,780,759
4. Mamma Mia! (2008) - € 6,310,774
5. The Dark Knight (2008) - € 6,300,542
6. The Simpsons Movie (2007) - € 6,144,885
7. Skyfall (2012) - € 6,006,062
8. Toy Story 3 (2010) - € 5,720,478
9. Shrek the Third (2007) - € 5,688,466
10. The Dark Knight Rises (2012) - € 5,499,254

Shame it didn't win any truly big awards, though it cleared up in terms of Irish movie accolades.