I picked The Guard from Netflix pretty much at random for some reason that I can’t remember at this point, and it finally showed up yesterday. I went into the movie with no expectations, no idea what the story was about, and no idea who the actors were, but I ended up loving it.
The story is pretty basic; you have your scarastic wisecracking Irish cop and your uptight American FBI agent working a case together, but somehow the result was better than I’d ever seen from the genre before. It was much drier and sarcastic then you would see from an American movie, but I love that kind of dry humor. The Irish actor absolutely nails it, and Don Cheadle is the perfect straight man.
The Irish accents are pretty thick, and there were a couple of punch lines that I couldn’t get even after replaying a couple of times, but if you’re willing to struggle through thick Irish accents and you like dry humor, go see this movie.
Very good movie. Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson do a really good job. You might also want to check out In Bruges. (BTW, I think there is another thread about The Guard around here somewhere.)
Ahhh, I just did a search and see it was discussed earlier, here. So nice to watch a movie I’d never heard of and love it that I had to rush here and mention it. Pity it didn’t get more interest in the US (IMDB says gross of only $5 million)
I have a question about the end of the movie. The Irish cop stops the boat from taking off and is presumed dead from the fire on the boat. I can’t really explain why I feel this but I was wondering if anyone else thought that he faked his own death to escape that dead end small town and if the FBI agent really thought he was dead and not just helping him get away with faking his death. Anyone?
I watched because Netflix thought that I would like it. I absolutely loved it. Great characters and well written. I did start it over after ten minutes with the subtitles on.
> I have a question about the end of the movie. The Irish cop stops the boat from
> taking off and is presumed dead from the fire on the boat. I can’t really explain
> why I feel this but I was wondering if anyone else thought that he faked his
> own death to escape that dead end small town and if the FBI agent really
> thought he was dead and not just helping him get away with faking his death.
> Anyone?
I thought it was clear that the movie showed that the FBI agent realized (right at the end) that the Irish cop had probably escaped and faked his death well enough that no one could follow him.
That was my take on it too. The little smile that just peeks out from Cheedle’s face as he realizes what the kid on the bike reminded him of “but he’s a strong swimmer”.
I saw this when it hit theaters here and thought it was pretty good. The only thing I remember disliking about it was when the third act devolved into a big cliche of machine-gun fire and blowing stuff up.
(Not that I have anything against blowing stuff up, I was just expecting something more from such a clever script.)
I got this movie from Netflix after seeing someone mention it in the “In Bruges” thread. I thought it was really well done. As for the thick Irish accents, well that’s what subtitles are for.
Just finished watching the film. It was ok, watchable, but not exactly amazing. The guy disappearing/escaping at the end bit just seemed silly to me. Even for an Irish person some of the dialogue was difficult, I think it was just badly recorded in parts.
I thought it was a very entertaining movie. Someone recommended it in a thread about In Bruges, another black comedy with Brendan Gleeson, and I was not disappointed in getting it.
Pity it didn’t get more interest in the US (IMDB says gross of only $5 million)