The Boondock Saints – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

Every great director has his imitator, and that’s what Troy Duffy is to Quentin Tarantino. Not like that’s a bad thing, either. Imitators feed a style that turns into a genre, and that’s where The Boondock Saints came from, this tough guy genre, made famous with the clever dialogue and cool guys with guns, like  in Reservoir Dogs. But I think we can’t blame too much on Troy Duffy, since he knew what he was doing, right? The film has become a huge cult phenomenon, mostly because the imitation was done so well, with some sprinkles of originality, that people liked. Tough guys with guns are the pivotal image in the action genre, Tarantino just gave it a voice, that Duffy repeated.

Of course, we cannot seperate the behind-the-scenes drama while making the film that became more of a vocal point than the film itself. Troy Duffy, it seems, irked off the very powerful Weinsteins, with his ego and alcoholism, which seemed to backfire on him in the industry. All of this was captured in a documentary called Overnight, but I really don’t think that helped The Boondock Saints in becoming such a cult hit amongst everyone not named a critic in 1999. Duffy arrogance serves as a warning to any up-and-coming film maker, but what was it that made this a cult hit?

Let’s go back to my opening paragraph when I talked about Tarantino. He knows how to craft a scene, with great dialogue spoken by good actors. I’m more than certain Duffy knows this, as The Boondock Saints is filled with plenty of scenes like that. To me, the key reason to this film’s popularity is Willem Dafoe. Sometimes what’s written on a script page is only as good as the actor, and sometimes a better actor can make those words pop. Dafoe’s scenes sparkle the film with charisma, and I’m certain the sole scene and the basis of the cult popularity is Dafoe’s character of Smecker talking about “the fire fight” towards the end of the middle part of the movie. Dafoe is borderline out-of-control in his description of the gun battle, and Duffy’s unique framing device of placing him within the action as he successfully describes how it went down, is the exclamation point on the film, as well as the scene.

Now, there’s more to like in The Boondock Saints than just that, but that one scene stands taller over the others. In fact, that scene is used as a basis for two songs from the Long Beach metal band Bleeding Through, as heard in “Love Lost in a Hail of Gun Fire” and “Revenge I Seek”. Check one for the popularity of the film, now sourced in music. The film isn’t perfect, as it does meander and feels a bit too tongue-in-cheek at times, but this is tough guy cinema, and at least Duffy’s last laugh against the Weinsteins was these two Irish lads and a few gun shots. Sometimes a style needs to played well, or well enough, to get people to notice. On a brief side note, what was wrong with Fox in 1999? The Boondock Saints and Fight Club were both mis-marketed by the studio, made nothing, yet became huge cult films. Both films were about tough guys finding themselves. Maybe each film was a showcase for the unsaid in men at the time in 1999 and we just rallied around what studio execs didn’t know then.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: The DTS track kicks your speakers butt, with constant surround activity and bass. Gun fights and songs filled the sound range, so expect a sonic assault. Dialogue is never drowned out, which is a key thing in a loud mix like this. Now the video is a different thing, and even though we get both cuts of the film, both are equally ho-hum. It’s a decent hi-def transfer, yet nothing to boast about. I was hoping for a more vivid, sharper image, yet we get a grainy, soft image. It won’t displease fans, but a few reservations are needed.

These extras were ported over from the 2-disc edition a few years back.  All extras are in standard def, sadly.

Commentaries: Both of the commentaries are only featured on the theatrical cut, and the first is with Troy Duffy, the director. He is somewhat stiff and odd, serving up the facts as told  in the doc Overnight. The second is actor Billy Connolly, and he’s more engaging. Both feature good stories, yet feel incomplete at the same time. Okay for fans, if at that.

Deleted Scenes: Nothing to thrilling, just some expansion scenes of characterizations, and some outtakes.

A Printable Script for you to read is a nice touch and the Trailer round out the limited extras.

Conclusion: The Boondock Saints fans will want this upgrade, too bad the documentary wasn’t included and that the picture wasn’t on par.

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating: