POSITIVES:
1) Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson have electric on-screen chemistry. They're both brilliant actors who give brilliant performances. Also, Ralph Fiennes steals every scene once he turns up for the final act; he's amazing 2) All of my favourite moments in the film are ones where the film is actually taking itself seriously. The fundamental story is about a naive young hitman who can't live with the guilt he feels after accidentally killing a child on a job, whilst his employer now wants to kill him for his mistake. That is a fantastic premise for a film and I wish these fundamentals were focused on more, rather than being cheapened by crude humour 3) By having the film set entirely in one town, especially a town as scenic as Bruges, it has the effect of Bruges really feeling like a character in its own right in the film. It makes you feel like you know the city even if, like me, you've never actually been there before
NEGATIVES:
1) As I have said before in this review, I just didn't appreciate a lot of the humour. It felt like the film was cheapening itself rather than taking itself as seriously as it should have 2) Despite being relatively short at 1hour 47 minutes, I still felt like the film was dragging itself out at times, rather than being focused on its narrative. Recurring characters like the midget, the guy who goes blind, and the Canadian guy are all completely unnecessary and just feel like the film taking unnecessary detours from its core narrative 3) The ending doesn't really land at all for me. Firstly because it feels like it goes on for far too long. Secondly because both of the main characters should die much sooner than they do. Gleeson gets shot twice and jumps from the top of the clock tower, but is somehow still able to speak for a bit when he lands; whilst Farrell gets shot 3 times right through the core of his body and somehow seems to survive??
1) Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson have electric on-screen chemistry. They're both brilliant actors who give brilliant performances. Also, Ralph Fiennes steals every scene once he turns up for the final act; he's amazing 2) All of my favourite moments in the film are ones where the film is actually taking itself seriously. The fundamental story is about a naive young hitman who can't live with the guilt he feels after accidentally killing a child on a job, whilst his employer now wants to kill him for his mistake. That is a fantastic premise for a film and I wish these fundamentals were focused on more, rather than being cheapened by crude humour 3) By having the film set entirely in one town, especially a town as scenic as Bruges, it has the effect of Bruges really feeling like a character in its own right in the film. It makes you feel like you know the city even if, like me, you've never actually been there before
NEGATIVES:
1) As I have said before in this review, I just didn't appreciate a lot of the humour. It felt like the film was cheapening itself rather than taking itself as seriously as it should have 2) Despite being relatively short at 1hour 47 minutes, I still felt like the film was dragging itself out at times, rather than being focused on its narrative. Recurring characters like the midget, the guy who goes blind, and the Canadian guy are all completely unnecessary and just feel like the film taking unnecessary detours from its core narrative 3) The ending doesn't really land at all for me. Firstly because it feels like it goes on for far too long. Secondly because both of the main characters should die much sooner than they do. Gleeson gets shot twice and jumps from the top of the clock tower, but is somehow still able to speak for a bit when he lands; whilst Farrell gets shot 3 times right through the core of his body and somehow seems to survive??