In Bruges

In Bruges

"The Irish hit-men Ken and Ray are sent by the Londoner mobster Harry Waters to the medieval Belgium city of Bruges in Christmas after an awry job in a London church. Ray bungles it. While Ken enjoys the historic city, Ray feels completely bored and misses his home. Ray meets the small time drug-dealer and crook Chloë, who sells drug to the cast and crew of a movie that is filmed in Bruges, and has an incident with a Canadian tourist and later with Chloë's boyfriend. Meanwhile Harry, who has an stringent code of principles, gives Ken special orders."

4 Stars

I completely admit that I may be biased because I was actually in Bruges about a month ago, but I really like this movie. It is definitely one of those weird-in-a-good-way films. Colin Farrell plays a wet behind the ears hit man under the tutelage of Brendan McCann. The movie opens interestingly enough with them engaged in witty banter that you really have to pay attention to. Not only is the writing smart, but both actors’ accents are so thick that you sometimes wonder if they’re talking gibberish just to see if you’re paying attention. The mentor/mentee relationship is evident and amusing, especially since Ken is absolutely enamored to be in the “fairy tale” like Bruges while Ray is bored out of his mind and can’t wait to get back to the much faster pace of London.

Unfortunately, Ray can’t go back to London because he has committed a terrible mistake. In his first job as a hit man he was sent to assassinate a priest, which he did. What he didn’t plan on was one of his stray bullets killing a nearby 8 year old boy who was getting ready to take confession. This clearly haunts Ray throughout the movie. Even with the heavy subject matter of the movie it does a good job of keeping a humorous attitude that doesn’t let the inhumanity involved in the men’s work overshadow the entire movie. Plus, I don’t think I have heard the name of a movie be actually spoken in that movie more in my life.

There is also an intriguing “code of the hit man” that is explored. Even though their profession would cause a knee jerk reaction of disgust because they take human lives for a living, Ken and Ray bring an aspect of humanity to it. They justify it to themselves by saying that they have only killed bad men or only killed in self defense. And they have a strict code about when and where they kill. In essence, they treat it like an actual job and try not to let it consume them.

Chloe (Clémence Poésy) is another bright spot in the film. I really can’t put my finger on it, but there is something incredibly sexy about her. At first glance she’s not drop dead gorgeous, but something about her personality just draws you in. Plus, she has one of the coolest/sexiest moments that I have seen in a long time. When Ken initially asks her out to dinner she just laughs and walks away, leaving us to believe that she is blowing him off. But after she gets about 20 feet away she drops a card with her phone number over her shoulder without even glancing back or breaking stride. I don’t know how to explain it, but watch the scene and tell me you don’t have the same reaction that Colin Farrell does.

If you still aren’t convinced to rent this movie, then I have three words for you: Midgets, Hookers, and Cocaine. If that doesn’t get your Spidey Sense tingling, nothing will. Now, I will admit that the ending fell a little flat for me. There is a metaphor involving some miscommunication that just feels forced. And, I don’t think I’m giving anything away, the movie ends on sort of a cliff hanger. While I think the last scene is executed very well, I don’t like the fact that a movie ends on a cliff hanger. You can do that with a TV show or a movie where a sequel is inevitable, but rarely can you get away with that in a standalone movie.