Ten years ago a cult phenomena was borne from the fertile imagination of Troy Duffy. Essentially an ode to vigilante justice, a topic on which Duffy speaks quite passionately (as he does about filmmaking) harkening back to the Bible and certain circumstances which warrant “an eye for an eye”, the stories of Duffy and the Boondock Saints are themselves the things on which Hollywood legend is made.
A bartender/barback, the magical light of Harvey Weinstein shone down from above, blessing Duffy with cash and a too-good-to-be-true production deal for this longshot idea. Calling on rootings of Catholicism and the Irish-Catholic community of the Boston area, the Saints made a name for themselves not only with their myriad of killings (all warranted mind you and all inflicted upon the dregs of society whom we shall not miss) but the manner in which they killed. Brothers, Connor and Murphy MacManus (the Saints), believe in right and wrong, moral consequence, faith, loyalty, family and each other. Doing everything in tandem, complete with stylized killings and a calling card of prayers before pulling the trigger and pennies covering the eyes of the deceased, they became legends. Great basic story, right? Guns, action and good looking guys, great selling point, right? But, as we all know, if the deal seems to good to be true, it generally is, and by the time SAINTS was made, legal wranglings abounded and theatrical release was “limited” at best. Also adding to the 1999 problems was the Columbine incident which caused many to “blacklist” THE BOONDOCK SAINTS. But, according to Duffy, thanks to Blockbuster as, “they gave us a real big, uncommon release that put 60 to 120 copies per store in all their stores because they felt this was a much bigger movie”. As a result, the word got on these bad ass, kick ass, fine looking gentleman and the legend, and explosive groundswell cult following of THE BOONDOCK SAINTS began. Continue reading MOVIE REVIEW: BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY