Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

pyrocitor There's a great gag at the end of The Guard that stops just shy of the line of excessively meta, in which the resident cheeky photography (Laurence Kinlan) quips that the ensuing carnage would normally be a flashy bloodbath told from the perspective of the FBI or CIA, with all of the simple Irish country folk marginalized as one-note background players. Our resident FBI narc (Don Cheadle, still best in the business at sardonic comebacks), is not amused, but it's here that the ultimate objective of John Michael McDonagh's cop (or, as the Gaelic would have it, 'Garda,' hence the title) comedy pokes out through the Burren. The Guard's intent is not to reinvent the wheel, but merely to give it a spin, seeing how the stereotypically North American genre plays out in the beautiful Galway countryside. And how does it play out? Really fook*n' well, to be sure.McDonagh, in case you were wondering, is the brother of In Bruges director Martin McDonagh, and there's no contesting that the two are cut very much from the same craic. The Guard's script, which offers just whiffs of early Tarantino, Shane Black, and even Truffaut, is Irish through-and-through, in that it plays for sly and witty more than laugh-out-loud funny, with no distracting stylistic flourishes or other such nonsense. McDonagh isn't much fussed by plot, and he certainly isn't in a hurry, allowing his film to shamble along, drinking in character beats and collecting amusing subplots along the way (see Brendan Gleeson's nonconformist cop Boyle take his mother – the delightfully twee but profane Fionnula Flanagan - to the pub, fence firearms to the IRA – here represented by Pat Shortt's amiable cowboy, and take a day off work to cavort with a pair of the cheeriest prostitutes in cinema history). Audiences unaccustomed to this more leisurely pace might find The Guard to drag and feel overlong, even at only 96 minutes, but there are so many sparkles of enjoyment throughout that it's hard not to get comfortable and enjoy the stupendous Galway scenery along the way.The most gleeful: the inevitable ending dockside shootout. You know you're not in Hollywood territory when the introduction of an AK-47 is greeted with bug-eyed scorn ("what're you doing bringing that cannon here?!"), and the entirety of the subsequent showdown, while still exhilarating, still manages to be the most grounded and reasonable take on what would be overblown intensified continuity elsewhere. Boyle and his drug-smuggling foes (top character actors Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong, and David Wilmot, all in hilariously eloquent and introspective form) stop not once but twice to have a pleasant chat in the midst of a firefight, and Strong even goes as far as to murmur "good shot…" in his dying breath. You practically await rapiers to be drawn.Ultimately, The Guard is worth its weight in Guinness if only as a rare but welcome starring vehicle for the peerlessly delightful Gleeson. His craggy face illuminating with the irreverent sparkle of jauntily letting rip with some of the most jaw-dropping politically incorrect slurs (Boyle is evidently not racist, but seems to enjoy playing the part to rile people up) or cheerily skimming drugs off dead bodies, before sliding into more sombre, tender emotional moments, revealing it all to be a defensive mechanism, Gleeson effortlessly plays his tricky character like a finely tuned fiddle. Whether hilariously sparring with Cheadle's beleaguered agent, or misting with sadness while mocking tottering retirees with his mum, Gleeson is simply a joy to watch from start to finish.The Guard is neither the most original nor memorable of buddy-cop romps, but McDonagh's film, in reworking the iconography while toying with pleasantly offensive Irish pastiche, is so hugely fun it's hard to resist. Throw in the never-better Gleeson and Cheadle as perfectly witty sparring partners, and you're in for a relatively peaceful, rollicking good time. All the while, you can mull over Cheadle's query – "I can't tell if you're really motherf*cking smart or really motherf*cking dumb". Gleeson's sly smile provides all the answer you need. -8/10

estebangonzalez10 "Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, these men are armed and dangerous, and you being an FBI agent you're more used to shooting at unarmed women and children."John Michael McDonagh's feature film debut is as irreverent as the main character of this movie played by Brendan Gleeson who isn't afraid of the repercussions his words might have on the rest of his peers. Gleeson plays an unorthodox Irish policeman of a small local community who when attending a meeting with an American FBI agent played by Don Cheadle makes a number of racist remarks such as "I thought only black lads were drug dealers?" and then justifies his behavior by claiming "I'm Irish. Racism is part of my culture." The Guard is basically a vehicle for Gleeson to make all sorts of irreverent remarks and that is where most of the laughs come from as you combine McDonagh's witty screenplay with Gleeson's performance. We'd seen Gleeson team up with McDonagh's brother in the past working with a similar sense of Irish humor in In Bruges. Your enjoyment for this film depends on your appreciation for this style of humor, which is very different from American comedies, since it is dry, rude, and insolent. McDonagh isn't worried about being politically correct and Gleeson's perfect delivery of each line made The Guard an entertaining experience for me. The humor doesn't always work like in In Bruges, but at least it hits most of its notes. Gleeson and Cheadle have a couple of great scenes together, but there are also some great supporting performances from Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong, and David Wilmot. The opening scene is one of the funniest I've seen in recent months and it sets the tone of the film perfectly with its dark humor. A group of young kids are driving at a high speed in their sport vehicle and just as they pass a local policeman and the camera focuses on him we hear a loud crash. Inspector Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) walks to the sight of the accident and searches the pockets of the victims finding some drugs and taking them while making some witty remark about not wanting to tell their mother's what he has found. We are then introduced to Gerry and his confrontational personality when he teams up with FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) who is in the small Irish town investigating a multimillion dollar drug trafficking operation. Gerry doesn't seem too interested in the drug case, but when these drug dealers cross the line and try to intimidate him he decides they've gone to far. The movie could've easily fallen into predictable territory centering on the odd- couple humor, but thanks to Gleeson's performance and McDonagh's script it stands out as an original film. The Guard deconstructs much of the detective procedural elements we've seen in other movies and McDonagh seems to have a lot of fun doing this as he directs his own material. His directorial debut showed a lot of promise, and surprisingly in his sophomore film, Calvary, he shies away from the genre and enters into more dramatic territory although continuing to work with Gleeson. It seems the two have established a solid relationship as the director's writing seems perfect for the actor's delivery. The Guard is an unconventional character study that had me laughing during most of its runtime. http://estebueno10.blogspot.com/

LeonLouisRicci This Film was Made in Ireland by Irishmen. The Accents are as Thick as the Profanity in this Satirical Ethnic Crime Film. There is a lot of Humor Derived from Stereotypical Racism, so if that Offends, Stay Away from this. Ditto if Four Letter Words Turn You off.At Times Raunchy, but it is All Done with such Light-Heartedness that it Smooths Over Quite Nicely. Brenden Gleeson's Star Turn is Admirable and Along with the Sharp and Delightful Cinematography Carry the Show. There is a Bit of Bite to the Dialog and the Film Fluctuates from Warm-Hearted Taking Care of Mom Stuff to Philosophical Rants from Unlikely Criminals and Such, a Modern Flourish that hasn't Worn Out its Welcome.Don Cheadle Plays Don Cheadle and is there Mostly to take the Brunt of Gleeson's Riffs on Drugs, Sex, Race, Crime, and Corruption. The Film Stays Fresh in a Genre and Style that is Getting Quite Old but Still has some Staying Power when it is done with Wit and Heart.

willcundallreview The Guard is a comedy that boasts a high level of cheeky humour and a cast that knows perfectly how to perform to this kind of comedy. With it's distinctly Irish flavour it never seems to fail at any point and even when the jokes aren't crying out loud one's, they are still pretty smartly done. It's quite short for a film with such a plot, but goes along way to getting the most out of it's script, I felt that it was firmly a very good movie, and here is why.The story is just a great one for a comedy, it is very dark comedy and everything can seem very bleak at times to say such funny lines are being produced. What was nice to see in the plot was that it wasn't afraid to maybe get slightly philosophical at times(even if it has a tinge of sarcasm),and really allow the characters to grow and grow so that we get to know them well, but they also deliver a comical performance, this film is very Irish comedy, all around the place.Brendan Gleeson in the main role as Sergeant Gerry Boyle is jolly and really contributes to the end rating of this movie, he brilliantly portrays a funny cop who we are not sure whether he is a good cop or a bent cop. Don Cheadle as the FBI agent goes along well with Gleeson and the casual racism directed towards him from some of the characters is dealt with well by the character, but also in a way that you know it is offensive and the racist person is just being plain dumb.John Michael McDonagh is the brain child behind this project and with a pretty limited budget to get such a cast, he manages to churn out a comedy with well constructed jokes bursting out from it. He directs and writes it and his talent for doing so is seen all the way through, he just knows what to do and the jokes flow through very nicely and also, they are very well times and not overdone. One more things to say is the setting is great, bleak but beautiful I felt it was a great advert fro Ireland, even if in the film, it contains some far from respectable characters. My only real criticism is well, I could say the jokes are never quite massive laughs, this movie will and does make you laugh but it is more of a conveyor belt of great jokes, but they won't make you cry at any point, unless you absolutely love McDonagh's comedy. Not so much criticism but I would have liked to have seen more of the community get involved in the film and really be a bit like the film "Hot Fuzz", but in the way that the town has various humorous characters. Fans of smart comedy and obviously Irish comedy should love this through and through, it just will entice you from start to finish and the running time doesn't drag this down, if anything it doesn't over stay it's welcome. If you like big gags and stunts, basically slapstick type humour, you won't like this as it mostly is funny by word of mouth, not if a character falls of a building and dies, it is much more complex than that.Overall it is Firmly a Very Good movie. You have to like it even if you don't laugh so much, it could lack jokes for some viewers and maybe others will not want the story, they may just want comedy which is fair, but I will say, this movie can be very enjoyable, if you watch it and enjoy the great mix of great comedy, and great story telling.