I still remember when I first saw this film, my friends Ben, Peter and I had gone over to Angelo’s for something and his roommate, who was Asian, and the living embodiment of an anime character, huge eyes, Asian, I mean we all expected nothing from this film and were all proved total idiots. We left thinking we had found the next Tarantino, too bad we didn’t know what an A**hole Troy Duffy turned out to be. To have taken a first film that he also wrote and become suck a d**k that he didn’t get anything off of it, I mean he got squat, not a single other film, just working as an actor in a couple of films. I mean this movie totally rocks, in fact I had forgotten how good the end of the film was until I saw it again. I mean this film is totally bad ass! This is a kick ass film with a great cast, well directed and shot, with great action. What else can you ask for. This film is so good, I forgot how good it was. Damn! Check this film out!

REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…

Two good Irish boys, the Macmanus’s, Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) are similarly tattooed and living in Boston working at a meat plant. On Saint Patrick’s day they are at their at their local bar run by Doc (Gerard Parkes the Doc from Fraggle Rock, here a stuttering swear every word bartender) when 3 Russian mobsters come in, the boys don’t accept the fact that Doc’s lease is canceleld and they kick the shit out of the Russians.

Then we see how the film is told, because it is told in sequence then fades to black, and we cut to police at a crime scene where they are trying to figure out what happened. The Boston cops are idiots, and when the FBI officer Paul Smecker (Willem Defoe) in all his gay glory he cuts their theories to shit and explains what happens, and then we see it. The MacManus boys were attacked by the Russians at their place, where Connor was handcuffed to a toilet, while his brother was taken to be killed. Not going to happen. Connor breaks off the toilet and goes to the roof, dropping the toilet on the guy who was going to kill his brother and jumping on the other guy, knocking himself out, but killing the other guy. They rob the guns and money and Murphy carries his brother to a catholic hospital where they give Doc their guns and money and go to turn themselves into the police. Smecker loves them, and lets them go as heroes, though they go anonymously and to avoid reporters they stay in the police station overnight. During the night they both get a message from god that this is their mission to kill bad people, and decide on it then and there. Their buddy David Della “Funny Man” Rocco (David Della Rocco) works for the Italian mob and comes to get them. They have the Russians pager and get a message about meeting with their boss, so the two of them get their money and guns and trade them with an Irish Gun Dealer, who gives them, all the weapons they want and they head to the hotel.

Once again we cut to Smecker at the crime scene, where all the Russian mob bosses have been killed. And we flashback to Connor and Murphy going in from the elevator climbing through shafts and accidently falling in and killing all but the boss. The Boss they have kneel down and give a special family prayer and then kill. The doorbell rings and Roc shows up, so they fuck with him and realize he has only a 6 shooter. They party all night, accidently killing his girlfriends cat, and then they tell him he was setup, with a 6 shooter and 9 to kill, he doesn’t believe until he heads to a bar and 2 guys tell him who kills as well as the bartender, but the Boston cops don’t tell Smecker.

Next we see a hit at a porno place, then we see the hit with all three of the boys this time, going to kill the right hand man of the Boss Vincenzo Lipazzi (the great Hedgehog, Ron Jeremy) which they do and the they let Roc kill 2 other low life’s in other whack off booths, which confuses the hell out of Smecker, though he figures it out.

The Boys then listen to Roc and go to kill and evil gang killer who has poker parties with goodfellas, and they go and kick some ass, but on their way out the run into a hit man who has been imprisoned for 25 years that the boss has brought it, this is Il Duce (Billy Connolly) and he kicks some ass, wounding all the boys and even losing Roc a finger. This whole scene is shown as Smecker explains it to the cops, so he is there during all the action, but explaining it, so well done, and he gets it all right, except he things that Il Duce is actually 6 shooters, and not 1, that is how good Il Duce is. And Smecker finds Rocco’s finger, but doesn’t give it to the cops, because he thinks the boys (sans Rocco) are doing good, and they get in touch with each other. The boys are going to kill the mob boss, but Smecker realizes they are going into a trap, and they are. They get captured and Rocco is killed. And Smecker comes to save them dressed as a whore, but the boys get out of their own bonds, and Smecker is knocked out by Il Duce who is about to kill the boys, but he hears them giving their family prayer for Rocco and he comes in and finishes it, their long lost father.

It cuts to 3 months later and the mob boss is once again on trial and is going to get off, but the police are working with the boys and Il Duce as well as Smecker, and they come in and take out the mob boss, and make a call for all evil, because they are putting them on call. Then the film ends with the media interviewing people about the action of The Saints as they are being called.

Totally bad ass film. Really well done, great cast, great action and a great story. Just well done all the way through. The special edition also has some bad VHS copies of AVID deleted scenes, and a commentary by Troy Duffy, which I haven’t heard yet. I hope he talks about his explosion, and the end of career because of his ego, but I haven’t had a change to check it out yet. The special features are all of 25 minutes (could have been on the first disc) and I think the only thing new is a commentary from Billy Connolly, and the DVD as DVD-ROM supplement, oh well, I only got this one so…

Well worth checking out, especially for all Action movie fans!