“Let’s do some gratuitous violence.” —Murphy MacManus
Today’s quick review: The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. Eight years after their crusade against the Boston underworld, Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) MacManus are drawn out of retirement by the murder of a beloved priest. With the help of Romeo (Clifton Collins, Jr.), a well-connected Mexican, they return to Boston to take their revenge on the guilty party.
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day is a stylized crime film that sees the return of the MacManus brothers, a pair of Irish vigilantes renowned for their ruthless brand of justice. The Boondock Saints II mimics its predecessor, offering the same mixture of bloody vigilantism, boyish banter, and considered style. But where the original movie was a novel thriller that balanced its elements well, the sequel struggles to recapture its magic.
The sequel’s greatest loss is Willem Dafoe as Paul Smecker, the eccentric FBI agent originally assigned to the brothers’ case. His role is filled by Eunice Bloom (Julie Benz), a hardnosed colleague of Smecker’s who takes the lead on the current investigation. Though Julie Benz does a decent job with the part, she is a weak successor to Willem Dafoe’s iconic role. The movie invites direct comparison between the two, and the replacement agent is lacking.
Beyond the loss of Willem Dafoe, The Boondock Saints II also fails to strike the right balance of style and incompetence for the Saints. The Saints in the original were lovable rogues who managed to get the drop on the criminal underworld through a combination of luck and daring. The Saints in the sequel are hamstrung by their reputation, caught between proper action stars and goofy wannabes with little room left to be ordinary people.
Still, The Boondock Saints II does have a few innovations of its own. Bloom’s crime scene reconstructions do not match Smecker’s, but they do have a couple of stylish twists. The plot touches on Il Duce’s past as a hitman for the mob, an interesting chapter of the Saints’ history. Romeo, although a carbon copy of comic relief character Rocco from the first film, is a welcome addition to the cast.
The Boondock Saints II has moments that almost sell the movie. The brothers are still as entertaining as ever, at least when they are given the chance to bicker and mess around. The movie fluctuates around a tonal sweet spot, and if it misses its mark most of the time, it still hits it every now and then. The movie also does not take itself too seriously, instead poking fun at everything from the Saints’ inflated reputation to the original’s cult status.
The result is a formulaic but not catastrophic sequel that mismanages its tone and takes the wrong kinds of chances. Watch The Boondock Saints II if you enjoyed the first film and can stand a substantial dip in quality. Though not as charming or original as the first one, The Boondock Saints II is still a solid, stylish watch with a few tricks up its sleeve.
6.3 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 to 7.0 for decent, stylized action that’s missing much of the magic of the original.