The Guard tells the story of an unorthodox Irish policeman from a small town, who is partnered with an FBI agent to investigate a drug smuggling ring. The film tries to tread a line between full out comedy and quirky drama but fails on both fronts. The Guard is ultimately a funny but uneven film.
Brendan Gleeson further proves that he is Ireland’s answer to Gene Hackman with his performance of the lazy yet brilliant Sergeant Gerry Boyle. Gleeson is both comfortable in comedy and serious roles and he is the best thing in this, however his character is hardly original. Sergeant Boyle drinks heavily, takes drugs, sleeps with prostitutes and is just excellent at his job. We’ve seen this character countless times on film and TV such as in Cracker or Lethal Weapon. Gleeson has funny lines but you can’t help but feel that this is just a retread of previous protagonists with nothing new to add. But Gleeson brings added value to everything he does and his bored, grumpy expressions amidst the chaos that surrounds him are very funny.
Supporting Gleeson is Don Cheadle as FBI agent Wendell Everett. Cheadle gives a solid and believable performance as the by-the-books American but the fish out of water moments don’t quite work. Cheadle is clearly a secondary character and we never see things from his point of view. In the 1983 film Local Hero, American Peter Riegert comes to a small Scottish town and we feel his confusion and even fall in love with the place as he does. Here Agent Everett is a late arrival in a zany town we’ve already gotten used to. The intention is that he serves as a foil to Gleeson but their friendship is underdeveloped and both characters never share a great scene.
The Guard feels like the Coen Brothers meets Father Ted but is not as entertaining as that sounds. The comedy moments revolving around the quaint lifestyle of the town are quite amusing but not stand out funny and the drug smuggling story is pedestrian and contrived. One scene involves the drug dealers (who include Mark Strong) having a meeting in an aquarium. The scene looks great but you wonder why they are meeting there other than to have a pretty background. Their scenes lack both danger and humour. The drug story builds to an action climax, which is not only poorly realised but feels absolutely out of place.
The most unnecessary strand involves Gleeson’s dying mother played by Fionnula Flanagan. She played a similar role in The Invention of Lying. Here she doesn’t sport a terrible cockney accent but still over acts. The story thread is not funny, interesting or moving.
Look, I’m being unfair. The Guard is funny, and both Gleeson and Cheadle are at their best, but the film just doesn’t quite work.
Rating: 3/5
Reviewer: Harry DavenportRated: 15(UK)
DVD/BD Release Date: 16th January(UK)
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Cast:Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle , Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham
Buy The Guard -On DVD
and Blu-ray
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