The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

The characters and jokes seem forced... The special agent seems to be written to be kooky, but is nothing like the spectacular character Defoe played, and comes across as annoying. Almost bad enough to be laughable - hard to watch.The plot does not seem to be cohesive. A very few characters in the movie come across as believable - many say their lines, but the words sound odd... I am working hard to write anything else about this movie to make ten lines since I really thought it was awful and there are only so many ways you can talk about how terrible the lines, characters and lack of plot are. I am rarely a fan of sequels and this movie proves exactly why I am hesitant to watch subsequent offerings on good movies.

I just saw the movie tonight at the advanced screening. If you're a Boondock fan, this movie is everything you'd expect it to be. It was awesome. Cant wait to see the third one, if there is one.

To be honest, I think the editing sucked in the movie cos at some points, there was no transition. Also, the director should have considered making a 2 hour 15 minute movie instead of the 1 hour 57 minutes. But it was good regardless. The movie was well written and had a lot of humor. The actors did a great job. The cinematographer was good too. The only thing I didn't like was the editing.

I don't want to spoil the movie by discussing about it. But I will be back after it releases on the 30th. Hope it gets released nationwide so that more people will know about the Saints.

To tell you the truth, I was no big fan of the first Boondock Saints. I thought the violence was gratuitous, the plot stupid, and the dialogue boring. After watching this one, I can confidently say that Troy Duffy has matured and made a film with much more quality. Sure, the over-the-top violence is still here, and so is the naughty language, and even the crude jokes, but now, the plot and the dialogue seem so much more mature.

That said, there are somethings that could be improved in this film. I think this movie would have worked better as a 90 minute action flick, but it was actually pushing the two hour line, and I believe that is a bit too long.

However this is nitpicking. The Boondock Saints II is a funny, cool, action packed, and maybe even though provoking look into the actions of two vigilantes.

For those of us who have been cult fans of the original, the last ten years have been a long ten. It was only a short while after the first film that they announced a sequel, but that sequel never came about. Then, finally, after all this time, here we are with All Saints Day, and it's a film that should entertain most, if not all fans. Unfortunately, it isn't quite the sequel I had hoped for.

Saints II picks up with the Saints having moved to Ireland after their vigilante spree throughout Boston. When a priest is killed in Boston, the Saints return to find the killer and take out everyone involved. The story soon opens up into a deeper plot about past sins coming back to haunt their characters.

All Saints Day continues the duologue slick, trigger happy style of the first film with rapid fire gun play, film homages, and snapfire duologue that is throughly entertaining. The gun play here is even more stylized, and it makes for some very entertaining action packed scenes that should please everyone who loved the first film. Most of the old cast has returned, and then there is the new cast, who bring some entertaining acting chops with them, mostly in the form of comic relief. Suffice to say, everything you liked about the first one is here, so if you were a fan of that film, you'll most likely love the sequel.

Unfortunately, All Saints Day isn't quite up to par with that first film. Where the first film had a natural flow to it, the sequel is somewhat disjointed, and the cast seems to try too hard. While everyone is real cool and funny, a lot of it seems to be too over the top, and after a while it begins to work against the film. Julie Benz and Clifton Collins Jr. try to make up for their first films counterparts, that being Wilem Defoe and David Della Rocco respectively, but are poor substitutes. Where these characters from the first one seemed to be very natural and perfect in their element, the new cast members seem to be trying to make up for a lack of said characters, and it shows. There are also several silly and useless scenes that, while creative, are out of place and could have very well been left out of the film. In particular is a dream sequence with a character from the first film and a scene with Julie Benz character as a cowgirl.

Fortunately, the end of the film is save by a fantastic climax headed by Billy Connely and Peter Fonda. Their scene at the end is some of the best written stuff of either of the films and these veteran actors bring all their chops to this film. Adding to this is a very pleasant bit part from a Boondock Saints favorite that should leave fans smiling as they leave the theater.

Saints II is a film for the fans, that's for sure. It may even encourage some to go see the first if they haven't seen it already, though this isn't all that likely. But, this is a very entertaining and decently written film that continues this great vigilante tale and may even lead to more. As fans, we can only hope to see more of the Saints in the future.

Being a huge fan of the first film, it's kind of difficult to admit this, but The Boondock Saints: All Saints Day just fell short.

The major flaw with the original was that it was a Tarantino-esquire action spoof that was attempting to be serious. Complete with over the top shootout scenes, campy dialog, and insanely unrealistic situations, whether the creators knew it or not, the original Boondock Saints was never meant to be taken seriously. It was just a fun movie.

Anyway, about 15 minutes into this film, it seems as though Troy Duffy had realized this and decided to embrace what the first film should have always been: an entertaining, over-the-top, shoot 'em up flick.

Enter Julie Benz and the three detectives.

See, what made the three detectives from the first Saints funny was not the dimwitted, slapstick gimmick they had in this film, it was Willem Dafoe. It wasn't that they were THAT dumb, it was that Smecker was THAT good. The weird guy was better than the average joes could have ever dreamed to be, and laughs ensued.

In Boondocks 2, you have three actors who are trying way too damn hard to be funny, followed by Julie Benz trying to play a female Paul Smecker. These characters worked in the first film because they actually had a decent performance to play off of.

Don't get me wrong, Julie Benz is great on Dexter, but she was just god awful in this movie. They might as well have tried to pass off that Smecker had a sex change, and that he and Bloom were the same person. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, but in this case, it was probably an insult. Also, the Southern Accent was just atrocious.

Aside from that, this film seemed to have expanded on what the original should have always been. There was more laughs, more action, and more blatantly forced accents. Hell, even the obvious replacement for Rocco wasn't half bad.

Dump every scene with Bloom, Greenly, Duffy, and Dolly, and you have yourself a sequel that nearly matches the original.

However, they were still in the movie, and they ruined it every time they were on screen.

5/10