In Bruges Review

A bit of quiet respite before death comes knocking marks In Bruges as a fascinating piece hoping to level emotional qualities at emotionless men. They are killers, marked by a botched job and flown off to Bruges, Belgium, to lay low for a while and contemplate their actions. Contemplate they do, and in that act of reflection comes some of the most touching, chilling performances Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson have ever offered audiences. It comes in the form of their menacing ways being stripped away from them, instead they are tourists in a small town and contemplating all they can on the actions that brought them there. Martin McDonagh begins his rich and varied career with a feature debut piece that cements his qualities as not just a director, but a writer too.

Such consistent quality in the dialogue marks In Bruges as a unique piece of comedy gold. Karate-knowing lollipop men, racist dwarves and a real emphasis on the morality of man and how that can be played up for a good gag or two. Dependent almost entirely on Farrell’s qualities as a leading man and the usually underpraised supporting work Gleeson offers, the film riffs with great success time and time again. Seeing the pair swan around Bruges with looks of awe and disgust marks a nice backdrop to the wider issues right at the heart of In Bruges, one of morality and desire to change in the face of infinite evil. Farrell and Gleeson, for all their great comedic work elsewhere in the film, are given ample time to chart a morally just end for immoral hitmen.

As brutal a pairing as the two are, Ken (Gleeson) and Ray (Farrell) are good souls. They care for the culture before them, or at least one of them does anyway. The other cares about fixing his own mind and reflecting on a potential second chance in the form of Chloë (Clémence Poésy). It takes little effort from In Bruges to reflect on love having an effect on someone – although the perception that its forgiveness and freedom are liberating is falsified. McDonagh strikes at the best and most uncomfortable, unpredictable moments. Instead of salvation, Ray finds himself in over his head, in moments that feel completely uncouth and vibrant actually having a later, fatal impact. It is the intensity underlining all the dark humour that ranks In Bruges so highly in Farrell’s filmography.

Not just a supremely great bit of comedy that earmarks the era of the late 2000s as a golden setlist, but a strong piece that is light enough to work through its darker tones. Coordinating the commentaries made on tourism and tact, In Bruges is smart enough to layer that with redemptive arcs, past relationships and a dynamic between Farrell and Gleeson that was, thankfully, picked up on over a decade later in The Banshees of Inisherin. Ralph Fiennes plays up the tough man gag fairly well while Jordan Prentice portrays such a uniquely strange character it is hard to see where he fits in with the story, but easy to accept him for the ketamine-loving character he plays here. A film that is both enjoyable in its parts as well as on the whole, there are few quite like it.