Brugge

Some time back, during one of the free preview weekends, I DVRed In Bruges. It's available on DVD, and is going to be on One or another of the HBO channels later this week, so I recently sat down to watch it and do a review of it here.

Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are a couple of hitmen from the UK who have been sent by their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes, who isn't seen until after an hour into the movie) to Bruges in Belgium at Christmastime because of a hit gone bad. Or at least, that's as much as they know; Ray was recently involved in a bad hit and Harry sent the two of them to Bruges without further explanation. The two are to spend two weeks there until Harry can get in touch with them.

Neither of them want to be in Bruges; indeed, they didn't have much idea where the place even was before they were sent to Bruges. They don't speak the language, although fortunately, more people speak English now than did when I was in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium where Bruges is located) two decades before the movie was made. But, the two make the best of it, trying to take in a little of the culture.

Bruges is a city close enough to the coast that it was a natural hub for commerce, which enabled it to become fairly wealthy and develop a beautiful town center that in more recent years became a magnet for tourism, to the point that the center was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, so if you're willing, there's a lot to see. And eventually, the town does begin to have a bit of a magical effect on the two hitmen.

They're helped by the fact that they run into a movie shoot involving a dwarf named Jimmy (Jordan Prentice) and one of the behind-the-camera crew, Chloë (Clémence Poésy). Ray especially strikes up a relationship with both of them, although this becomes fraught with problems as Chloë has a former boyfriend Eirik who is extremely jealous. Ray gets in further trouble when he's on a dinner date with Chloë and a Canadian tourist couple complains about her smoking, leading to a fight.

Meanwhile, there's the little matter of Harry. He finally gets in touch with Ken, telling Ken the real reason for sending him and Ray to Bruges. During that botched hit, which was supposed to be on a priest, Ray did shoot the priest, but in a way that left an altar boy witness. Ray decides to eliminate the evidence, which means offing the innocent boy, and that's a huge no-no. So Ken has to kill Ray, something he is now reluctant to do. Harry is eventually going to come to Bruges to make certain Ken has completed his job....

In Bruges is a movie that's lovely to look at, thanks to the natural beauty of Bruges. It would have been hard to go wrong filming there. But to be honest, I did have a few problems with the movie. The basic story is quite good, although it bogs down a bit near the end and the actual resolution of the story is something that I found a bit unrealistic. There's also a fair bit of speechifying that bogs down the movie at times as well.

Viewers should also be aware that In Brugs is filled with violence and bad language, although I'd point out that you should probably expect that from a latter-day movie about a pair of hitmen and their vengeful boss. It didn't bother me, althuogh I suppose there are some people who might find it uncomfortable.

In Bruges is a movie that, if you haven't seen it before, you probably should, and I can definitely recommend it.