In Bruges is described as a black comedy-drama crime thriller.\u00a0 I will agree it\u2019s a very bleak comedy indeed.<\/p>\n
(Spoiler Alert \u2013 Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)<\/strong><\/p>\n Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are two Irish hitmen, Ray and Ken, that work for English mob boss Harry, played by Ralph Fiennes.\u00a0 Harry has ordered the two men to lay low in the Belgium resort town of Bruges after a hit in the London area went badly.<\/p>\n When first introduced Ray and Ken are arguing about Bruges.\u00a0 Ray claims that Bruges is too insanely boring for him to endure and Ken claims that Bruges\u2019 cultural and scenic virtues made it a relaxing and interesting hiding place.\u00a0 Ray is a young working-class man who has no interest in a tourist attraction while Ken is an older man who seems to possess sensibilities outside of the brutal realities of his murderous trade.<\/p>\n And so, the first part of the movie is the two hit men bickering about spending their time in the pubs versus sightseeing the medieval tourist destinations.\u00a0 During this time Ray meets a young woman, Chlo\u00eb, associated with a film shoot, an actress.\u00a0 And among the actors on the streets taking part in the filming is a dwarf named Jimmy whom Ray is inexplicably fascinated by.\u00a0 But while the two men are out and about Harry calls for them and is extremely angry at their absence from their room.<\/p>\n At this point we are shown a flashback to the hit that caused Ray and Ken to hide out in Bruges.\u00a0 During a confession in a Roman Catholic Church Ray confesses to a murder and when the priest asks him who he murdered Ray replies, \u201cYou.\u201d\u00a0 Then he proceeds to fire several rounds into the priest.\u00a0 So far so good.\u00a0 Mission accomplished but the bullets also killed several people waiting for confession including a young old boy.\u00a0 And he sees a note that the boy had written listing his sins which included not doing well enough in math class.\u00a0 Now we see that Ray is haunted by his \u201csin\u201d against innocence.<\/p>\n And in the next scene while Ray is on a date with the actress, Ken takes the phone call from Harry.\u00a0 Harry tells Ken that he sent them to Bruges to give Ray a pleasant send off before he has Ken kill him.\u00a0 When Ken objects Harry explains that killing a kid is a mistake that can\u2019t be allowed and Ray has to pay the price.\u00a0 It\u2019s part of Harry\u2019s personal moral code.\u00a0 Of course, Harry seems like an unhinged psychopath but apparently, he has a code.\u00a0 Ken agrees to the hit.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Ray\u2019s \u201cdate\u201d takes a very odd turn.\u00a0 While Ray and Chlo\u00eb amorously engaged in her bed, a former boyfriend (or a grifting partner of hers, Eirik confronts them and threatens Ray with a pistol.\u00a0 Ray quickly disarms Eirik and during a struggle fires off a blank round next to Eirik\u2019s face, blinding him in one eye and causing Chlo\u00eb to escort Eirik to the hospital.<\/p>\n The next day Ray goes out to a nearby park.\u00a0 Ken follows him with a silenced pistol prepared to carry out the hit.\u00a0 He sees Ray on a bench with his back to him and as he runs up to shoot him, he sees that Ray is about to commit suicide with a pistol.\u00a0 Ken shouts to Ray and prevents the suicide.<\/p>\n Needles to say in the next moments Ray explains how guilty he feels about the death of the child and Ken explains why he was running up behind Ray with a drawn pistol.\u00a0 After a protracted discussion Ken decides that he can\u2019t kill Ray and tells him to get on a train and disappear into the European hinterlands to avoid being rubbed out by Harry.\u00a0 As Ray leaves Ken speaks to Harry on the phone and tells him he\u2019s let Ray go.\u00a0 Ray goes ballistic and smashes up the phone in his home and screams abuse and profanity at his wife and children.\u00a0 He informs her that he is headed to Bruges on a matter of \u201chonor.\u201d<\/p>\n Back on the train Ray is apprehended by the police for injuring Eirik with his own pistol and is jailed in Bruges.\u00a0 Eventually Chlo\u00eb bails him out and he spends the day with her walking around town.\u00a0 When Harry arrives, he and Ken climb to the top of a local church tower and once there Harry orders Ken to shoot it out with him.\u00a0 But Ken refuses.\u00a0 He puts his gun down and tells Harry to what he needs to.\u00a0 Harry raves and abuses Ken but tells Ken he can\u2019t kill him because he recognizes that Ken is doing what he believes is right.\u00a0 But he still shoots Ken in the leg out of blind anger.\u00a0 While up in the tower Harry finds out that Ray and Chlo\u00eb are sitting on a bench at the bottom of the tower.\u00a0 Harry leaves Ken in the tower and runs down to kill Ray.\u00a0 But before Harry can reach Ray, Ken jumps off the high tower and with his dying breath tells Ray that Harry has come to kill him.<\/p>\n Ray flees from Harry and reaches his hotel room to retrieve his gun.\u00a0 The pregnant hotel owner refuses to get out of Harry\u2019s way when he demands to go up to kill Ray in his room.\u00a0 Ray tells Harry that he will jump out of his room window into the canal so that Harry won\u2019t have to shoot past the hotel owner.\u00a0 Ray jumps into the canal and lands on a barge passing by.\u00a0 Harry fires and strikes Ray in the chest.\u00a0 Ray gets off the barge and staggers through the streets and finds himself inside the movie set.\u00a0 The dwarf Jimmy is dressed as a young schoolboy.\u00a0 Ray continues to stumble through the street and eventually Harry catches up to him and shoots him twice more in the back.\u00a0 But one of the bullets exits Ray\u2019s body and strikes Jimmy in the head.\u00a0 When Harry reaches Ray, he sees Jimmy and thinks he has killed a child.\u00a0 He says, \u201cSo that\u2019s what it\u2019s like.\u201d\u00a0 Ray tries to tell Harry that Jimmy isn\u2019t a child but is too weak from his injuries.\u00a0 Then Harry takes his gun and shoots himself in the mouth.\u00a0 The movie ends with Ray narrating that if he survives the shooting, he will find the family of the boy he killed and perform whatever punishment they demand of him.\u00a0 He also muses over whether hell is being stuck in Bruges forever.\u00a0 And he does admit he hopes he lives.<\/p>\n Saying this is a black comedy is an understatement.\u00a0 But make no mistake, comedy is exactly what it is intended to be.\u00a0 The movie is laced with sarcasm, irony and comical scenes and dialog that plays on the outrageous and callous behavior of Ray and most of the other cast.\u00a0 Ken seems to be the closest thing to a normal human being in the movie.\u00a0 He spares Ray and then lays down his own life to save him.\u00a0 But surprisingly both Ray and Harry also both seem to have one limit to their ruthlessness.\u00a0 They seem to recognize the sanctity of innocent children.\u00a0 This movie is bizarre.\u00a0 I won\u2019t pretend that it doesn\u2019t have many faults.\u00a0 It\u2019s laced with profanity, loaded with sociopathic behavior and provides a somewhat sympathetic portrayal of gangsters and other assorted low lives.\u00a0 But it does tell a compelling story of two men who have some sparks of humanity mixed in with their brutal careers.\u00a0 Recommended for fans of gangster movies who are not easily offended by gratuitous violence and coarseness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Bruges is described as a black comedy-drama crime thriller.\u00a0 I will agree it\u2019s a very bleak comedy indeed. (Spoiler Alert \u2013 Skip down to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,237],"tags":[3786,3785,3788,408,43,3787,38,1355],"class_list":["post-21036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-brendan-gleeson","tag-colin-farrell","tag-gangster-movies","tag-gangsters","tag-movie-review","tag-ralph-fiennes","tag-review","tag-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\n