What a long, strange trip The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day has had on its way to the big screen. The story begins way back in 1999 when writer/director Troy Duffy made the original film. It was barely in theaters long enough to have a cup of coffee. What it did was begin a stir in the underground cult scene, such that when the DVD arrived back in 2001 it saw an explosion in popularity. I am pretty sure anyone and everyone in college during that time either saw the movie or was aware of it. It had a reputation as a wild action film. It also had the promise of a sequel.
If you do a quick search, I am sure you can find a plethora of information regarding Troy Duffy and the drama surrounding The Boondock Saints. I will not recount that here, suffice to say things happened causing the ten-year delay between the first and second films. There are reasons why Duffy has no known credits between then and now. Fortunately, none of these delays have to do with his talent. There is no question that Troy Duffy has talent, but what he needs is someone to help him hone those skills to improve the end product.
I remember first seeing The Boondock Saints and loving the over the top style, chopped up story telling, and the performances of all involved (including the ill-fated cat). I have recently revisited the movie and have found that it has not aged all that well. I still like it, there is still wild stuff to found within its frames. The problem is that it has the feel of warmed over Tarantino with a side of John Woo. And the way it keeps flashing back over all the action sequences is rather annoying. On the other hand, Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus have good chemistry as the brothers and Willem Dafoe is borderline brilliant as the bizarre FBI agent Smecker.
That brings us to the new film, subtitled All Saints Day. We pick up the brothers living with their father (Billy Connolly) on a farm in Ireland, far from their days as street cleaners in Boston. However, when a priest is murdered back in Boston in the brothers' signature fashion it is only a matter of time before Connor (Flanery) and Murphy (Reedus) learn this news, retrieve their weapons from storage, and head back to the States.
All Saints Day follows a similar development arc as the first. The brothers come back to take care of business, enlist the aid of a local, and proceed to tear through the criminal underworld until they reach the man behind everything for a final explosive showdown. Along the way they run into a couple of familiar faces in the form of the comedic detective trio from the first film.
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