The Guard (Irish film with Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle)

Broads.ie

Shyte and over hyped. I think there was one funny bit.

RepliesWithGif

Cartman78 wrote: »

To me, it's a dark comedy/quirky character study. If you approach it expecting to laugh your ass for 90 mins then you are going to be sorely disappointed

Syferus

Got around to watching The Guard, having been looking forward to it for most of the year. The McDonagh brothers clearly share a very subversive and neurotic sense of comedy and violence, and while the antagonists in The Guard weren't quite as singularly scene stealing as Ralph Fiennes in In Bruges, The Guard does hold up to the comparison very well.

A big thing with enjoying The Guard fully is suspension of disbelief, that is, criminals having discussions about Voltaire, children talking about Abe Lincoln. It sacrifices realism - even in its own twisted world - for sharp dialogue. Thinking back now it reminds me of Sweet Smell of success in that sense, though the dialogue isn't quite as delicious. If the lines are great then that approach is fantastic and for the most part The Guard hurdles that post easily.

It took me maybe the first act to fully adjust to the world of the film, but by the end I was lapping it up and hoping it wouldn't end. I'd imagine I'll think even more highly of it after a second watch. The ending, I think, is as much the wistful 'happy ending' Cheadle's character says the story needs, it's him imagining, yeah there's a chance he's out there somewhere palling it up with Donald Duck. He was shot in the arm, remember, so swimming would be intensely difficult, even for a relatively short distance. It's just one of those fun little endings that doesn't slap down the entire tv dinner in front of you and let have a bow on proceedings; it fully suited the story and the character.

And of course it's a satire, and a very fun one at that. Like In Bruges, though, it knows enough to center the story on the characters, not the plot. Gleeson's character cuts a lonely figure, but he hardly seems to care until his only safety net (his mother) is taken away from him. I'd love to see more films that explores the distinctly rural sense of isolation that's very common in Ireland outside of the major population centers.

Oh, it's obviously also great to see a few deeply talented Irish directors coming to the fore, even if they've tended to be in the same family!

Cartman78

RepliesWithGif wrote: »

^^^^^^
Could someone give this GIF a bit of context? Not sure whether it's a compliment or an insult

brian_t

Cartman78 wrote: »

^^^^^^
Could someone give this GIF a bit of context? Not sure whether it's a compliment or an insult

I don't think it's either.
RepliesWithGif obviously intends to reply to posts with nothing more than a Gif.
You used the word laugh so they added a picture of a man laughing.
If you click on their name you can see their other similar posts.
The results are hit and mis I think.

fryup

chin_grin wrote: »

It's a f*ckin' mess. The reason it f*ckin' is, is probably because it relies heavily on f*ckin' stereotypes and replacing every second word with "f*ckin'".

Yawn-fest of an ordeal with boring characters and a story written by a ten year old.

Terrible.

i couldn't agree fukin more, got it as a fukin xmas present..wish i got a fukin jumper instead:(

sat down to watch it with the family tonight, not one of us laughed...better suited as a one off TV drama than a motion picture..just glad i didn't go to see it in the cinema and waste my fukin money!!

Dyr

jesus wept, im watching it on the PC now, haven't seen it since the cinema release. The dialogue is dire...its actually painful to watch good actors having to wade through that muck.

"Would ya **** off to america with your "appropriate"..barack ****ing obama"

Renn

Yeah one of the worst films I've seen from 2011. Dire. In Bruges does tend to be vulgar for the sake of it a bit of the time but overall it gets by without it and has a lot more going for it. This, however, just does it non-stop for 90 minutes.

fryup

and what was the point of Pat Short in it??

that scene where he gives back weapons to the IRA what was that all about added nothing to the storyline

Miguel_Sanchez

fryup wrote: »

and what was the point of Pat Short in it??

that scene where he gives back weapons to the IRA what was that all about added nothing to the storyline

It explained how he got hold of an AK at the end. It's not standard issue for Gardai as far as I know.

BigCon

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

It explained how he got hold of an AK at the end. It's not standard issue for Gardai as far as I know.

And the derringer...

Warper

Saw this myself last week. Problem is i was expecting too much from it as anyone that i spoke to about it gave it good reviews.

Its a decent film but not as good as i had hoped.

Bowlardo

I love this film.

Tom Mann Centuria

Bowlardo wrote: »

I love this film.

Film Four eh,?