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 IMDB page: http://imdb.com/title/tt0780536/ Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/inbruges/ Starring: Colin Farrel, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes Just saw this last night. Not a wide release in the states. I believe it's a sundance film so I was able to find this playing at one of the smaller theaters that shows a lot of indie and foreign films. This movie is goddamn hilarious in a dark way. It was hyped up to me like a Guy Ritchie Lock Stock/Snatch type movie but in my personal opinion it's not but the humor is spot on. Colin makes up for all of the lovely roles I've seen him in since Minority Report. I'm not much of a movie reviewer but I have to share my thoughts and try and get everyone I know to see this. There were a lot of OUT OF loving NOWHERE moments that just kept me laughing through next scenes. The trailer misleads you a little bit about the movie and is arranged like something you've seen before but trust me, it's worth seeing. 5/5 from me
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Mar 20, 2008 16:37
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Lots of great english humor, realistic shooting scenes, good acting all around. Colin Farrell really does make up for his other shite roles. The first half of the film feels a bit slow but it tells an excellent story. I love "Rafe Fines" and that probably helps my opinion of the film. 5/5
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Mar 27, 2008 03:59
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Excellent, highly entertaining film. I'm usually not much of a Farrell fan, but I felt he delivered a top-notch performance. Great chemistry with Gleeson, and Fiennes is a treat as usual. Was kind of a little put off the by the last ten minutes, after Gleeson beats Fiennes to the ground and the kid/dwarf dilemma, but still left the theatre satisfied. Unfortunately, I was probably one of the few people in town to see this film, as it only played for a week, and there was only one other person in the theatre when I saw it. 4.5/5
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Mar 29, 2008 22:56
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I'm so glad this finally came to theaters, or at least one theater, in my area. I'd been wanting to see this since it was released. Great mix of humor and drama, the little boy's card in the church was probably the saddest thing I've ever seen. Never figured Farrell could play a comedian but his facial expressions and immaturity throughout the movie were quite hilarious, and it's always nice to see Gleeson. A really hosed up Odd Couple. Best comedy I've seen in a while. 5/5
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Mar 30, 2008 00:13
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I just saw this last night. It was a great movie. Like said earlier, the pacing in the first half of the movie was a little slow. The second half felt perfect. Characters were developed very well, but sacrificed plot to do so. A trade I think was worth it. There was a lot of violence, but some of it was hilarious like the scene where Eric tries to rob Ray. Most of the comedy was limited to one-liners, but it worked well with the style of the movie. I was mostly surprised as to how dark the movie ended up being. The trailers portrayed (at least to me) a very light-hearted comedy. The soundtrack was very creepy (read: wonderful). That being said, I still left the theater very satisfied. 4.5/5
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Apr 15, 2008 14:28
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This just came to my area, and I thought it was absolutely fantastic. I didn't know Farrell was capable of doing such a fine job playing a part, and his character was acted just perfectly. I think the way he interacted with Gleeson was really enjoyable, especially the part in the beginning when Ray makes fun of the fat Americans, then Ken comes to see what the fuss is about and basically makes the same insult, then both he and Ray look puzzled at the infuriated reaction they get from the tubby American tourists. The whole thing with the Clémence Poésy, the woman who plays Chloe, is absolutely loving smoking hot too. Best movie I've seen this year, 5/5. Edit: Now that I've had a bit of time to think about it, the ending was really one of the best parts of the movie. It did a good job of wrapping the movie up while still leaving just a bit for you to think about. crudnugget fucked around with this message at 08:07 on Apr 23, 2008 |
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Apr 20, 2008 00:44
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Wow, I had totally written off Colin Farrell but he was fantastic in this movie. It's hard to give this kind of film a genre so that you can recommend it to others, its pretty funny but can be dark at the same time. There's just something charming about it. I'm not sure if they shot on location or not, I'm assuming they did because the camera practically oozes the local culture and its quite convincing. This is one of the better movies I've seen in the past few years, my only lament is that its really hard to describe to others. 5/5
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Jun 15, 2008 01:11
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I don't see where everyone thinks this movie is some sort of comedy. There are some amusing parts in it but they're overshadowed by the brilliantly accomplished tension and unpredictability which makes you think anything can happen. Every exchange had me glued to the screen. There was tension burning under the most serene scenes. The emotional impact was done infallibly, by the hand of a true master. I felt/hoped during first part (that some people think is slow), that the second part is going to blow my socks off, which it did. The pacing/exposure was perfect throughout the film. It reminded me a little bit of the unhurried pace and meaningful silences of Unbreakable. This movie is an instant classic. I haven't felt captured by a film like this since Pulp Fiction (and I didn't feel that movie was a comedy, either). I saw the film last night, woke up today and found I was still thinking about it. There were other films, like Running Scared or Crank, that tried to capitalize on "hurr randomness" factor of Pulp Fiction, and they were reasonably entertaining, but they failed at character development, and, unlike Pulp Fiction and In Bruges, they will be soon forgotten. 5/5 monsterland fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Jun 27, 2008 |
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Jun 27, 2008 21:19
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I just watched this one on a whim and I was thoroughly entertained. I love the English/Irish culture and the interactions between the two protagonists was top notch and funny. Farrel redeems himself and should do more movies of this quality. The girl seemed blah at first but after a few angles and scenes I totally fell in love with her (Clémence Poésy??). Now I want to go to Belgium and find a babe like her! This is a must see, especially if you like British kind of humor too. Well acted, well written and well paced. 5/5
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Jul 15, 2008 23:14
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Finally got around to seeing this on dvd, and wish i had seen it in theaters now.The humor is quite dark in places but it also has its bit of whimsy that is refreshing. Going into it you might be forgiven for thinking it was just another Guy Ritchie fueled slick crime caper but it plays on the Odd Couple formula for a much greater effect. Brendan Gleeson is one of those character actors that I always enjoy seeing. I actually enjoyed watching Colin Farrell in a rare performance where he manages to not live up to his hunk status. Here, he's energetic and immature and the epitome of the bad Anglo tourist. The dichotomy between him and the seasoned Gleason was fantastic. Ralph Fiennes has a good turn playing a bit more cockney than he is used to. I was also surprised and gladdened to see that they managed to include so many influences from Flemish art and culture, particularly Bosch and his depictions of the Last Judgment. This is referenced throughout with all of the struggles that each character has, and is most obvious towards the end. I won't spoil the finale but there are parts in it where you think they are including plot or characters just for the sake of having them there but they come to a head in a way that doesn't feel overly manipulated. Definitely give this one a go. 5/5
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Jul 16, 2008 01:52
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A very good film. I especially liked the widely spaced apart set ups and pay offs, like Farrell punching the Canadians, eventually resulting in him being sent back to Bruges by the police.. Seemed like every event had some eventual consequence in the plot. In Bruges funny, emotional and thoroughly entertaining. The dialogue is terrific and very well acted, and the action is paced perfectly. One of the better films I've seen this year. 5/5
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Jul 17, 2008 22:42
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This...may be the best movie I have seen so far this year. The beginning starts off slow, vague, and disheveled so you get specific details one at a time. This is on purpose and patiently builds up the audience's emotion. This movie is like a train leaving the station and accelerating to 500mph in 2 hours, then exploding in a blaze of glory. Intentionally over-the-top at times and the ongoing theme with Bruges being regarded as a fairy tale city tries to remind the viewer that this isn't exactly reality! The extreme moments are well-placed and not superfluous. A lot of the comedy can make you forget what movie genre you went to go see. It isn't really intentional comedy because no one is laughing on screen, but if you are dry and sarcastic like me you will be roaring during some scenes. Farrell brought a lot of the humor but major props go to Harry. His poof-loaded burn is the most painful owning I have ever witnessed in a movie. I couldn't stop thinking of Dennis Miller with his "eloquent in its brevity". You expect Harry to sympathize with the skinhead but no, Harry destroys every last shred of the man's dignity with stunning accuracy and leaves the guy a broken man. I watched that scene maybe 12 times over and over. The Academy Awards need a new category called Best Superslam and hand it over to Ralph Fiennes under no contest. Gleeson launched a pretty good verbal grounding of Harry's character but calling Harry's children cunts was too much and really deflated my mood a bit, after he built it up over the course of that minute. Harry's outrage over that made him look like the bigger man. There was barely any anti-American sentiment and all three jokes were hysterical. Farrell cracked one 'lol fat' joke in the beginning, and you see that in the trailer. The funniest of course was the Canadian couple getting mad about smoke in the smoking section of a restaurant and Farrell calling them "yank cunts", then knocking the girlfriend out cold. The American having a heart attack at the top of the bell tower and closing it down was funny too. It was all hilarious even if you're American, just not if you're fat. Fat people suck. There was a lot of other humor targeted towards other cultures too, like Belgium for instance! I heard Eurotrash at one point too! I sensed tension towards black people and gays, etc.. My point being that jabs are taken at everyone and America is not a victim here. My favorite part about this movie was the 180 in perspective it forced me into at the end of the goddamn movie. It made me feel stupid. It made me full of regret for not focusing. It made me want to rewatch it immediately. Most importantly it made me think "McDonagh is a loving genius".: We know they hosed a job up and had to leave, but I never had negative perceptions of Farrell's character even after finding out halfway through the movie that they're In Bruges because Farrell accidentally shot a kid. Immediately I perceived Fiennes (Harry) as a terrible man with who poses a threat at least with his 'gently caress hey gently caress you gently caress how' vocabulary. Despite it being a terrible act to kill a child I thought Farrell was just doing his job and it was an unfortunate incident. His depression and deep regret downplays any outrage you really could have, because he never wanted it to happen. Then you get this insider perspective that Harry is a very devout family man and, despite his business, he holds strong principles about a very sensitive issue--the death of a child. Originally I thought Fiennes ordered Gleeson to kill Farrell simply because he hosed up badly on his first job and cost Fiennes money. The real reason comes out later and after Gleeson saves Farrell, Harry's anger turns to complete determination towards killing Gleeson for helping a child murderer live. Instead of Farrell and Gleeson being budding comrades who just do hit jobs to pay the mortgage, at the end I didn't think Farrell dying was so bad. I actually had strong feelings about what should happen to each character (except the girl) and that is a very rare thing. The character development that was accomplished here should be an excellent example for any writer until the end of time. The value of honor and 'man of principle' was stressed in Harry and Gleeson's phone calls and foreshadowed Harry having to ironically follow them. His death could have been unexpected but I guess we should have known it would happen. Then right when you no longer want Harry to die: *BANG*, all because of hollow point bullets he didn't need and took in vain. Farrell never loses his respect for Harry and his honor despite getting shot by Harry 5-6 times. So a dying Farrell attempts to save Harry from killing himself unnecessarily and fails. Harry commits suicide because he blew a midget's head off after mistaking him for a child. This is one of the most amazing plots I have ever seen. I mean goddamn...McDonagh has a hell of an imagination. Gleeson and Farrell do make a great contrast. Harry/Fiennes played a superb mob boss even if the short-tempered 'deadly businessman/devout father' angle is cliché. The girl never really sold herself: boring dialogue, bland emotions, mediocre acting. No solid relationship or contribution to the movie exists outside 'casual fun dating' with Farrell and she is an unnecessary distraction in a movie that is nothing close to a love story. And yet...she's in the film until the very end. Her IMDB is completely underwhelming and I bet she hosed the casting director. Farrell's dwarf fascination was incredibly humorous and the dwarf's diverse drug use and sarcastic demeanor was hysterical as well, but at the same time incredibly depressing... This movie is the epitome of depressing. At the end all you can think really is "Holy poo poo that was hosed up" followed by "Goddamn I am watching this again" or "AWESOME....but this is nothing like Snatch or Lock Stock at all, yet....AWESOME". The trailer for this movie was stupidly misleading and not at all why I wanted to see this. I actually didn't want to until I heard people's opinions about it. Regardless of how good or bad a movie is, don't chop it up into a thriller advertisement with out-of-context 'humor' that turns intelligent people off. This is a movie that is 10,000 times better than the trailer. I will play the living hell out of this movie. I missed a lot of the symbolism mentioned here too, speaks words about how much there is to take in. The soundtrack was absolutely amazing especially the metal song that broke out during the scene where Harry chases Ray back to the hotel. The charming piece during Gleeson's bell tower scene was....'depressingly fulfilling'? That is how I felt I guess, I don't know how else to put it, but all of it was great. 5.5/5. Edit-Now that I've had time to think about this, In Bruges is better than any Guy Ritchie film I have seen and definitely the best movie since 2003. My fellow Americans, get off your loving asses and see this movie. EllisD fucked around with this message at 05:14 on Jul 24, 2008 |
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Jul 23, 2008 10:06
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I saw this just a little while ago after never hearing anything about it. It was excellent in pretty much every way. Most of the funny stuff was just straight out of nowhere and the ups and downs in the movie are really impressive. Definitely a much watch. 5/5 EDIT: Also, you must ABSOLUTELY see the "Fxxing Bruges" special feature. It's brilliant. If you've failed terribly and missed it, it's here on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDyEbUUpiLc If you have not seen the movie yet, do not watch the above. It's not a spoiler, just funnier after you've seen the movie.
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Jul 25, 2008 04:56
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I read all these wonderful reviews of this movie in this thread and thought, "I have to see this movie. Everyone says it's great." I was disappointed. It certainly wasn't a BAD movie, but it was no where near the acclaim it's getting in this thread, in my opinion. Certainly some good subtle humor. I really think that Colin Farrel did well in his role. Really, overall the acting was the most solid part of this film. Don't get me wrong, it's a decent solid movie. I just wouldn't rank it as a 5. More like a 3, or 3.5.
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Jul 25, 2008 20:02
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Excellent movie, one of the best I've seen this year. Aside from the slow start I can't find fault with anything else. This film manages to go through the range of emotions and leaves you very satisfied at the end 4.5
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Jul 27, 2008 12:05
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I reviewed this on my blog (which is 99% poker related) http://steveodwyer.com/?p=149 5/5 though
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Aug 17, 2008 11:05
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Flixter review: A barnstorming, witty, extremely effecting thrill ride that will probably not get as much attention as it demands. In Bruges is a simple story - Two Irish hitmen (Gleeson and Farrell) flee to Bruges, where they await instructions from their omnipresent boss (Fiennes) - told brutally and hysterically in equal measure. What stands out the most, however, is Farrell, who is at last given a script that allows him to give the fantastic performance we all knew was in him. In a masterful stroke of audience manipulation, writer/director Martin McDonagh deliberately and frequently passes Ray and Ken off as two completely ordinary people on a holiday - sequences involving Ken's love of art and culture and Ray's utter disdain for Bruges are hysterical - before bringing everything crashing down by using a botched hit with tragic consequences (Ray's first) to remind us of just who these people are. Once Ken finally gets the call from Harry he's been waiting for, the tone shifts gears into thriller without ever stalling. And it's a terrific thriller at that, making Finnes' utterly dispisicable (but still oddly honourable) Harry one of the most memorable and genuinely scary villains we've seen this year. In Bruges has enough laughs and shock to guarentee that, by the time the impressively macabre, crushingly downbeat ending comes along, you are bound to be impressed. 4/5
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Aug 17, 2008 23:52
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In Bruges is a movie that attempts to make you care about people who you really shouldn't care about. Killers aren't supposed to really have souls. They are supposed to be hard as rocks, unflinching and unwavering in their mastery of emotional denial. That's where In Bruges attempts to flip the coin on the viewer. They made a movie that tries to humanize some very brutal characters. They succeeded in making you care about Brendan Gleeson's character, but Colin Farell's character is totally over-exaggerated, leaving you with disdain for him even when you're supposed to feel empathy. He's such a complete gently caress-up, you are actually left thinking "this guy is such a prick. Who cares if he is supposed to be killed?" I suppose that was intended to be "endearing" but I found it a hard pill to swallow. His character is really the main character (as you eventually find out) - and the shallowness completely overshadows any worthwhile message the movie tries to make. Gleeson's character is trying really hard to make it seem like he's the father figure - the one with the patience and life experience to make the best of a dirty situation. He does a pretty good job at that - he's the most easy character to relate to. The other characters are really one dimensional and you don't get enough time to understand why they are so daft about life in general. The dialogue at the drug scene was just aggravatingly stupid, petty, and pretty meaningless. It's like they tried to emulate a Tarantino Scene but only gave it a C effort. This movie is also supposed to be a "black comedy" but there's hardly any real laughs in it at all. It's really very dense and at times, morose. I'm sure that this movie was intended to be witty, surprising, and oddball but I just don't enjoy films that try too hard to make me care about people that are really assholes. I think if there was a little more development on the part of the script writer to show that Farrell's character had a shred of human decency, it would have worked alot better. As it is, the only moment you get from him is when he starts whimpering like a baby about having shot a child. It's just not enough to make me believe his character. It felt like an afterthought. It needed more buildup. At that point, I wished they actually would have shot him and ended the movie on a positive note. I'm sure I'm in the minority on this one. Conceptually, this movie could have been fantastic. As it stands, it was a movie with some good acting on occasion that really felt like it was just trying to hard to bash you over the head with a bunch of crude dialogue. It needed an intellectual makeover. 3/5 ajrosales fucked around with this message at 04:35 on Aug 18, 2008 |
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Aug 18, 2008 04:32
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I'm not much of a movie reviewer but I felt I had to chime in on this one. This film is fantastic, everyone plays their characters brilliantly, the film is hilarious and yet the subject matter is serious and you really feel for all the characters. Despite the fact that all three of them are essentially bad people, I really ended rooting for all of them. The plot was great and the end just made me think 'holy poo poo that was awesome'. 5/5
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Sep 12, 2008 14:31
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I just saw this on DVD. I didn't really know anything about it, and it was absolutely fantastic. What we have here is a little black comedy about two hitmen on vacation in a quaint little tourist town in Belgium called Bruges (that's one syllable, by the way). I would make comparison to other gangster black comedies like Pulp Fiction or Snatch, but In Bruges works with a much smaller cast. Colin Farrell (who I've never really cared for, but who brings the charm here, as miserable as he is) Brendan Gleeson (whom Harry Potter and 28 Days Later fans will know) and Ralph Fiennes (whom I haven't seen in years, except under make up in Harry Potter) make up our principals. There's notable supporting roles from a couple of more minor characters which add up to a very colorful cast that's not too small and not too enormous. No character is superfluous, and all of them will bring a smile to your face at one point or another. The comedy is hard to describe, but I guess I'd say it's just a pinch of absurdity without extending into ridiculous. The premise of a British and an Irish hitman on vacation shows promise, and it delivers. It may not be as ridiculous as a Tarantino or a Guy Ricthie, but little moments like a pregnant woman refusing to get out of the way of a gunfight because it's her friggin house, followed by the hitmen trying to come up some compromise that will move their shooting away from her, add up quickly. Actually, I think Fargo is the closest thing I could compare it to. I'll also add that the DVD has a couple of nice extra features, not just the minimum. Deleted scenes, a gag reel, a swearing montage, a tour of the town of Bruges (which is very much the fourth character of the film) and two other behind the scenes featurettes which go into some very nice detail about the actors' and the director's perspectives of the meaning, intention and origin of the film. I'm having a hard time deciding on a score of 4 or 5. I only hesitate to give it a 5 because it's nothing grandiose, and as charming of a film as it is, I can't promise it's something people will still be talking about 5 or 10 years from now. But really, I cannot think of a single complaint I have about this film, or notice any flaws. It's just about as perfect as a small black comedy can be. Ah, what the hell, 4.5/5 Elijya fucked around with this message at 11:12 on Sep 1, 2011 |
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Dec 14, 2008 14:37
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Saw this today, having no idea what it was. One friend expected action, another expected black comedy, and I just hoped it was good. We all came out satisfied, and even though it's slightly odd, I loved it. My only problem with it was when Ken survived being shot in the leg and neck, crawling up the tower, and falling off. Good solid action, drama, comedy. Also it has a midget. 4.5/5
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Dec 17, 2008 11:12
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The one quality that strikes me about In Bruges is that the comedy happens within the moment, when two people are hanging out and something funny just happens naturally. This occurs even in the middle of a dramatic revelation or life-threatening confrontation. It's unconventional from a film standpoint, but it's the kind of thing that you see in real life and I'd like to see more of it on screen. Comparing it to other movies is difficult since it's unlike anything I've seen before. The movie is less about the ending and more about the events along the way. Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell, and Ralph Fiennes are amazing. This is as close to a perfect performance from each that you can expect. I avoid going into why only because the movie's best when you go into it knowing as little as possible. Pretty much any goon should enjoy it, as should anyone else who doesn't need a lot of structure or blatant punchlines or clean jokes. 5/5
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Dec 26, 2008 20:45
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