Free Press

Issue date: 11/2/09 Section: Arts and Entertainment

The MacManus brothers are back to their violent vigilante theatrics in "Boondock Saints: All Saints Day."

The low budget crime thriller "Boondock Saints" is a staple of many college students' DVD collections. Although nobody seemed to notice it in the theaters when it came out in 1999, it's attained an almost cult-like following, grossing over $40 million in DVD sales. It's one of those Tarantino-style movies that's got something for everybody: seriously funny jokes, an engaging plotline, likable characters and oodles of gratuitous violence. It has a cameo by porn star Ron Jeremy and even coined a new term, "Irish-sploitation," to define its original cinematic style.

Given its popularity, it's no surprise that everyone is eager to see the new sequel "Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day," which opened to 67 select theaters nationwide last Friday. The film continues the saga of Conner and Murphy MacManus (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus), two Irish brothers who punish evildoers in Boston with a unique brand of vigilante justice. The story picks up ten years after the close of the last film, and the brothers are now in rural Ireland hiding out. When they catch word that gangsters have murdered an American priest, they head back to the US to seek vengeance. David Della Rocco, Billy Connolly and Bob Marley are all back to support the action, joined this time by the legendary Peter Fonda who plays a character mysteriously named "The Roman."

The sequel has been in production since early 2002 and cost twice as much to make as the first one. In recent months, director Troy Duffy has been carefully cultivating the suspense by maintaining a video diary of the movie's progress on YouTube. The diary is full of leaked shot sequences and short interviews with the stars of the film. The trailer was officially released last month.

Duffy says that nobody on his crew wanted to be thought of as "the guy who fu**ed up" the legacy of the wonderful first film. Now that our seven years of patiently waiting are finally up, let's hope that dream comes true.

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