Review: The Guard

Brendan Gleeson stars as a small-town Irish copper who is anything but conventional. Insensitive, a bit of an a-hole, not above dropping acid found at a crime scene, fond of banging hookers, but also a good son to his ailing mum (Fionnula Flanagan). He also claims to have been an Olympic-level swimmer in his youth. He generally gets the job done, but he’s...frankly a bit bonkers. Don Cheadle is an African American FBI agent sent to assist Gleeson on a big drug bust. He’s more straight-laced and has absolutely no idea how to take the big, burly Irishman who barely seems to give a crap about the case. At one point he wonders if Gleeson is really fucking smart or really fucking dumb. The drug smugglers are played by Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham and David Wilmot, and they have already killed Gleeson’s partner early in the film (You’ve heard of the guy dying on his last day before retirement? This poor bugger pushes up the daisies on his first!). They’ve also bought off every cop in town, hoping to keep Gleeson quiet, too.

 

If you took “Fargo” (crap as it is), “Local Hero”, “Heartbeat”, and “In Bruges” and put them all in a blender, you might get this quirky, highly watchable 2011 film from writer-director John Michael McDonagh (whose brother Martin made “In Bruges”, with Brendan Gleeson in a lead role- a talented family!). It’s not a gut-buster, and the plot is hardly original, but it’s consistently amusing (Wilmot at one point existentially wonders if he’s a psychopath or a sociopath), and Brendan Gleeson (one of my favourite character actors) is terrific in a wonderful characterisation (equal to his turn in the hilarious “In Bruges”). His character isn’t a bad guy, but he’s not the most law-abiding cop you’ll find (but moreso than most others in the film), and his complete lack of tact around Cheadle is very funny at times. He’s not a racist, just completely unfamiliar with having to filter his every thought or whim. Or maybe he’s just taking the piss. The fact that one is unsure just makes it funnier. He’s an entirely unpredictable character in a relatively predictable film. Gleeson is well backed-up by the supporting cast of familiar faces. American actor Don Cheadle proves far less of a sore thumb in these Irish surroundings than one might think (and his difference is largely the point anyway), whilst Mark Strong might not be the most versatile actor but is too good at what he does to really complain. He’s good at being straight-up mean and not fucking around about it.

 

Dud ending, though, has things closing on an inconclusive downer. Still, Gleeson’s unpredictable, frequently amusing character is memorable (and surprisingly likeable), and the film is overall an easy watch (so long as you’re not easily offended). It’s not “In Bruges”, but this fish-out-of-water odd couple movie will do nicely, nonetheless.

 

Rating: B-