The Battle of Boston

Well, I know what some of you are thinking: this is an honors student taking Honors English writing a passion blog about movies, so obviously he was in attendance of the Lincoln movie this past weekend and he’s going to write about it. Let me just let you guys down easy: no.

This week is dedicated to the culture of the ol’ Irish. Not the Fighting Irish, the team who got their butts whooped by our rivals this past weekend, but the green-blooded, potato-eatin’, ol’ Catholic culture that’s been trudging through American culture since our country’s humble beginnings.

So how does this all fit together? Well, the story this week is of two brothers, Connor and Murphy MacManus, who are in the heart of the Irish section of Boston, who vow to expel evil (in the form of the “criminals” of the town). They are inspired one night when a voice speaks to them after killing two Russian Mafia members in self defense the day after a vicious Saint Patty’s day bar fight. Then, they decide to armor-up and join forces with their friend Rocco (a former member of the Italian mob) who gives them the names and addresses of the people they need to kill. After killing these men, the two brothers pray for the people they killed and put pennies on their eyes as a religious duty. I’m going to keep the rest from you in case you actually want to see it, because the kind of twist ending the writers include is pretty out there, almost to the point where it is too far-fetched.

But let’s talk about the movie itself. It was a film by Troy Duffy, but surprisingly has a lot of Tarantino characteristics, namely the violence that ensues throughout the film. In addition, like Tarantino the film uses a non-linear timeline that fits in with the more noir sections with Willem DeFoe’s character, as well as the use of both cliché and non-cliché action sequences.

The way that the different hit jobs go down is incredibly creative. What happens is the three men are all prepared to go into a building and perform their duty, when all of a sudden, the scene cuts, and you see the exact same set after they’ve done their duty and the police are trying to put together the pieces. This is where Willem DeFoe steps in. He’s a hotshot forensic investigator who puts together all the pieces and figures out exactly what the three men did the night before. Then, as he’s explaining, the scene cuts to scenes from the night before with the brothers and Rocco performing their hits. Remarkable way to portray the scenes.

So, should you see it? Well, if you’re into blood, crime, and you just happen to be from the Emerald Isle, well then you’ll enjoy it. Also, those fans of the Walking Dead will recognize Norman Reedus AKA Daryl Dixon as one of the MacManus brothers, so there’s another reason. But hey, that’s just my opinion.

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