In Bruges is certainly a different type of movie, mostly in a good way, but it is also strange and very violent. In fact the violence is worse than the violence in "There Will Be Blood" and "No Country For Old Men" combined.

It is suppose to be a black comedy/drama about 2 hit men sent to this Belgium city until the heat from their last hit fades as it went wrong.

There are a couple of laugh out loud moments and a lot of quiet smiles along the way but the first half is is sort of a snooze fest.

For a change Colin Farrel doesn't have a full frontal nude scene (sigh) and he really has to do something about those heavy eyebrows which, in the past, made him look really sexy but now just distracts from from his character. He does a good job as a hit man with a conscious. His partner in crime, Brendan Gleeson almost steals the picture but Ralph Fiennes comes in the latter half hour and walks away with the film.

The writer and director of the film, Martin McDonagh, is mainly know for his plays and in those and this, his first film, he throws in a lot of his off kilter humor but does go astray with both the plot lines and directing.

The picture, if it gets a wide enough release and attracts a crowd, will surely put Bruges on the map as a tourist attraction.

As I said it is a strange and different picture--certainly interesting IF you can get past the first 20-30 minutes and don't mind graphic violence.

Comments: