Certificate 18
Duration 107 mins
A wickedly funny and vividly violent black comedy that generously whisks viewers off on a sight-seeing trip to beautiful Bruges only to plunge them into a world of gunfights, seedy sex, plentiful swearing and petty squabbles. Still, at least the architecture is pretty! Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson play two hitmen who are sent to the medieval town to avoid repercussions after a job goes wrong. The fact that they really, really get on each other’s nerves is a minor issue as they soon discover that deadly trouble – in the form of a surprisingly scary Ralph Fiennes – is hot on their heels even this far from home.
The highly-acclaimed and formidably multi-talented Martin McDonagh (creator of such plays as The Cripple of Inishmaan and most recently Hangmen) outdoes Tarantino with his first film as writer and director, using his vicious sense of humour and ability to conjure wild surprises to create an immediate classic. McDonagh’s forthcoming new film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is already an Oscar favourite, so this is the perfect chance to see how his film career kicked off.
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