I first saw the original Boondock Saints when it was a blockbuster exclusive rental on VHS around 2001. I fucking loved it. It was like watching an amazingly violent, vulgar and slightly offensive little secret. The years have not been kind to my opinion on it. As more and more people viewed the movie (and considered it a classic), it just wasn't as cool anymore and without the "coolness" factor what's left is a fairly unoriginal, emotionless and amateurish flick. There are tons of people who love it but at this point I can't be considered one of them. I don't hate the original, it's got energy and (borrowed) style, but there's not much there under that.
It took 10 years for writer/director Troy Duffy to make the follow up and while I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, I was curious to see if he would add anything different to the sequel. It turns out he has not. All Saints Day is basically a rehash of the original but a lot more boring. Somebody frames the Brothers MacManus in the killing of a renowned priest and they come out of retirement to get revenge. They run into pretty much every character from the original (even the dead ones) and go on their way to kill a lot of bad people. That's basically it and I doubt most fans of the original would want much more than that anyway.
The movie just didn't work for me at all. It's 2 hours long and spends the first hour setting up the plot and introducing new characters. Duffy's relative strength is writing and shooting action scenes not character development or even comedy and the first half really drags along slowly without much action in it. The humor in the first wasn't exactly highbrow but it was a whole lot smarter than what is presented here. A prime example is when a bad dude says he shit his speedos, Duffy then shows his ass with a poop streak, hilarious. I love a good shit joke but the key word is good, it just wasn't funny. There's also numerous scenes that just feature people yelling at each other for no apparent reason, I think they were supposed to be funny but it didn't work. Things pick up a but in the second half I guess but I had pretty much checked out at that point.
The actors all seem to go through the motions. Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flanery aren't exactly Oscar contenders but they both seem to be mailing it in big time. Billy Connolly is fine but plays a pretty minor role in regards to screen time. Julie Benz basically replaces Willam Dafoe's character and she is allowed as much leeway to go crazy with it as Dafoe was but her performance just doesn't add anything. Clifton Collins plays the new sidekick but he is given nothing much to do at all as well. Most of the other supporting characters are just annoying.
The Blu-ray is nothing special either. All Saints Day is pretty low budget and the picture quality shows that with softness all around. It doesn't look bad by any means just nothing spectacular. A bigger disappointment was the Audio. For an action movie it's very front heavy and there is very little surround use at all, even during shootouts. Bass level is fine but nothing overwhelming either.
I'm sure there will be lots of people who will enjoy All Saints Day for what it is (it's got a 77% approval rating by the Rotten Tomatoes community) but I found it overly long and pretty boring. There are a lot of nods to the original for fans to spot but I wish Duffy would have spent more time putting together some more action scenes or a tighter pace than trying to cram every character and situation from the original in. Fans of Boondock Saints will probably still want to watch it but I wouldn't recommend anyone go out and buy it without watching it first.
Ratings:
Movie 1.5/5
Blu-ray3/5
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