The Guard

By Mr. Tropnevad

Summary

Irish cop Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) teams up with uptight FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) to track down a gang of international drug smugglers.


What I Expected

I heard about this movie last year, but I was unable to see it in the theater. It fell off my radar just like The Devil’s Double and the only reason I even remembered it was, because it kept appearing on people’s top ten list and it was being listed as the funniest movie of 2011 from critics I trust. With high expectations I decided to watch this and just maybe it will live up to what I have heard.

The Bad

This isn’t really bad, just more of a warning. The word “Fuck” is said constantly in this movie. It is not just men saying it either. Women and children are saying it in almost every other sentence.

Another warning; this film is filmed in Ireland and has Irish actors in it, so it could be difficult for some people to understand what is being said.

Other than those two things I found nothing wrong with this movie.

The Good

The first two minutes does a great job of letting you know what this movie will be like. We learn that this movie is about drugs and that Gerry Boyle is a corrupt cop. While he is a corrupt cop he does care about the towns' people and he doesn’t want anything bad happening to them. When the drug dealers show up Boyle changes his attitude and is ready to take them down.

This movie is racist, so don’t be offended and if you are anything like me you will find humor in it. Wendell Everett is telling a room full of Irish police about the drug dealers and Gerry Boyle starts his racial profiling by asking if their black or Mexican. This scene and several others are hilarious. This happens throughout the movie and Boyle sums it up by saying I am Irish, so I have to be racist.

Gleeson does a great job in this being a corrupt cop and he is hilarious. He does go far in the racism like I already mentioned. Gleeson is funny throughout the entire movie and while almost all of his jokes or his racial comments will be funny he knows how to keep a straight face to remain serious. I found myself laughing at his comments more than I have at any other comedy I have seen in a very long time. He says things that people think, but never would say. Cheedle asks him at one point if he would like to see a picture of his kids and he says something like, no all babies look the same unless its an ugly baby. If it is an ugly baby then let me look at it.

Don Cheedle is in this movie, but he does not hold a strong presence. He doesn’t show up until at least forty minutes into the movie and while he is in the movie he isn’t around as much as Gleeson. Don’t get me wrong though Cheedle does an excellent job. He takes the racism like anyone would, until he slowly learns that Gleeson is just messing with him. One of Cheedle’s best line’s from the movie was “I don’t know if you’re the smartest guy I know or the dumbest” and then Gleeson just sits there and smiles. At this point you don’t know what to really think of Gleeson and you know Cheedle is serious about his job.

I want to apologize for this spoiler, but I have to mention this and how genius this movie is for adding this to the movie. Seriously don’t read this if you plan on watching this movie. Spoiler. We get the idea that Gleason is corrupt, but we soon find out he loves prostitutes. He meets up with two and takes them to a hotel and has his way with them. Well later on in the movie we discover he gets crabs. I began to question why this was put into the film and then bang we learn why. One of the drug dealers holds Gleason hostage in his house and tells him he is going to kill him. Gleason begins to have an itch in his pants and tells the guy to wait a minute and explains the hookers. The drug dealer waits and Gleason pulls a gun out of his underwear and kills the guy. Spoiler.

The soundtrack is very good and I found it very enjoyable. If you are paying attention to the music you will notice that it fits for every scene that the music is in. The final action scene in the movie should give you an idea of how the film makers put the music to good use.

Overall Thoughts

I would say this is the most under rated movie of 2011. It is a very good movie and I highly recommend seeing this. While I have not seen every movie that came out last year I would say that this is on my top movies of 2011. This movie is based off of a series of books and I would like to see Brenden Gleason take on more of this character. Don’t rent this, go buy this movie. As of today Amazon is selling this for $20.

Overall- Strong Buy