The Guard

An aesthetic reminiscent of In Bruges, a heavy dose of Irish nihilism and a finely balanced comedic tone black enough to make the Coen Brothers scream copyright infringement. All of these characterize John McDonagh’s first feature-length foray into directing. From the first scene of The Guard—where Sergeant Gerry Boyle, played by the underrated and always entertaining Brendon Gleeson, steals and then pops a tab of acid he got from the victims of a car crash he is supposed to be policing—the audience is set up for a ride riddled with the unexpected.

The feature, which starts off as a simple murder case, eventually becomes a “half a billion” dollar drug trafficking conspiracy rife with police corruption and sadistic henchmen. As for some of the earlier, less exciting portions of the film, techniques such as sharp cutting, pervasive point-of-view and a random smattering of unusual camera movements entrance the viewer.

One of The Guard’s most salient features, though, is the acerbic wit that permeates the dialogue and gives vitality and intellect to the superficially inane rural policeman Boyle. The often flippant yet incisive interchanges between Boyle and FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) are a rare sight in modern cinema and are among the film’s highlights.

The Guard, however, is more than just a slick-looking black comedy. It takes a variety of characters with differing temperaments and, over the course of the movie, transforms the audience’s perception of them. They go from unlikable to endearing, and by the end become complex, multifaceted individuals, propelling the film into the higher echelons of cinema by adding a necessary (and rarely seen) level of depth. Relationships, like that of Boyle and his terminally ill mother (Fionnula Flanagan)—the only person whom he truly loves—and Gabriela (Katarina Cas), the stunning wife of his partner (Rory Keenan), demonstrate a trustworthiness and rigid, albeit unorthodox, moral code that layer and deepen his character.

Coupling sharp dialogue with unexpected character depth, and pushing Gleeson ever further into the film viewer’s consciousness, McDonagh has written in The Guard what might just be the smartest screenplay of the year.