Many cult films are called such because they’re under-appreciated gems with a fervent fan base. The critics might even like it somewhat, but really they just don’t understand. Most cult films however have at least some critic who will go to bat for it as something of a masterpiece.
“The Boondock Saints” is the rare example in which the film and its director are straight reviled by everyone who isn’t in the club. It’s a trash vigilante movie of utter style over substance, so go the naysayers, and one of the worst examples to grow out of the Quentin Tarantino copycats.
And yet here I am perched in the middle, an admittedly strange place to be with a film so polarizing as this. Everything bad about the film is also a distinctive characteristic. It’s ugly, excessive violence through and through, but it’s staged with elegance and operatic grace. It’s grossly overstated and sweeping in its tone but approaches its bigness unironically and fully to the point that it earns it. It’s full of trashy machismo attitudes and vigilante sensibilities, and yet the spiritual underpinnings and noble, Robin Hood heroes on a mission from God are a notable contrast from what’s typically associated with the vigilante and B-movie genre. Continue reading “Rapid Response: The Boondock Saints”