The Guard (2011)

The Guard

Sometimes an opening scene of a movie manages to paint a clear picture of what a movie is about in just seconds. The Guard is an example of a film which manages to do so in an exquisite way (small spoiler coming up). A car with a couple of young men who are speeding, crashes at the exact spot where sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) is already waiting in his police car. He frisks one of the unconscious (or dead) men who has been thrown out of the car, finds some drugs, throws half of them away and takes an XTC-pill that’s part of the package. It’s immediately obvious that this is not the most normal cop and that The Guard is a very dark enjoyable comedy.

The Guard review

Boyle doesn’t seem to take his police work very seriously and works in a very quiet area in Ireland, where not a lot happens. When FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) contacts the police because of international drug smuggling you wonder whether he can work with Boyle and catch the criminals. With a couple of stereotypical remarks about the color of his skin Boyle immediately puts their relationship to test. According to Boyle racism is part of his culture. The smugglers they are trying to find can be called unique. The conversations they are having are about philosophy and one of them even refuses to clean up bodies as he claims it was not part of his job description.

The Guard

The dialogue in The Guard is pure genius and it had me laughing constantly. Brendan Gleeson own this movie and his character strongly reminded me of Nicholas Cage in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans, as he just says what he thinks and doesn’t care if he upsets people. Just like Wendell Everett you sometimes wonder whether or not Gleeson is just plain stupid or that he actually knows what he’s doing. If you enjoy dark comedies with great acting, than you shouldn’t miss The Guard.

Score: 8

Trailer:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5pk6s-PRUE]

13 thoughts on “The Guard (2011)

  1. yeay!! I love this movie too. Gleeson was hilarious, as was Mark Strong. He is always good value.

    I think I called it Father Ted meets Hot Fuzz when I reviewed it a few months back!!

  2. I so want to see this one! I have to go to blockbuster though as Netflix doesn’t have it yet. What a great cast!

  3. This was playing in my local indie theater a month back and I really wanted to see. Things didn’t work out, but I hope to see it on Blu-ray soon. It’s funny that ‘In Bruges’ came to mind for me during the previews for this movie as well.

  4. Glad you enjoyed it! I really, really liked this film. Cheadle and Gleeson worked very well together and I liked how Strong was in a supporting baddie role, rather than the lead baddie.

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