The Guard

   The Guard is the impressive debut film by Irish director John Michael McDonagh starring Brendan Gleeson (Braveheart, Harry Potter, In Bruges) as Irish police officer Gerry Boyle, who shows sides of heroism, hilarity and corruption.  Boyle and FBI agent Wendell Everett, played by Don Cheadle, make an unlikely team in an effort to take down an international drug trafficking ring.  Gleeson is very funny in this role, even when I couldn't understand what he was saying (thank goodness for subtitles) but I didn't care for Cheadle's performance, which seemed ordinary and inauthentic, especially when the two men are drinking at a local pub.
   With the plot such as it is, this film's substance runs deeper than you might think and its multi-layered delivery helps move the story along quickly and efficiently.  McDonagh pokes fun at how people from Ireland view America and how Americans view Ireland.  He plays around with stereotypes that people from both nations have of one another.  For one, there are very few scenes that aren't absolutely drenched in green.  Boyle's office alone has green walls, green telephones, green lamps, green pens and green benches.  In most scenes, the actors faces are illuminated in green lighting.  At a diner, instead of yellow and red condiment bottles, they have dark green and bright green.  It is pretty unique.  The American phrase "good to go" is mocked.  One of the drug traffickers mentions how American police are less likely to take bribes than their Irish counterparts.  Classic American music is used at two key points in the movie.  In one diner scene, the characters are sitting around having a dialogue about how creepy Bobbie Gentry is when she says she is going to throw something, whatever the heck it is, off the Tallahatchie Bridge.  John Denver's Leaving on a Jet Plane blares over the closing credits.  It is very interesting to see elements like this get woven into an Irish film.
  It is certainly a fine debut film from director McDonagh.  Gleeson made me laugh quite a bit.  This film has sequel written all over it and I definitely look forward to one.