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| THE GUARD |
Year: 2011
USA: Sony Pictures Classics
UK: Optimum Releasing
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, David
Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan, Dominique
McElligott, Sarah Greene, Katarina Cas, Pat Shortt, Darren Healy,
Laurence Kinlan, Gary Lydon
Director: John Michael McDonagh
Country: Ireland
USA & UK: 96 mins
USA Rated: R for pervasive language, some violence, drug
material and sexual content
UK Certificate: 15 contains very strong language, strong
violence, sex references and drug use
USA Release Date: 29 July 2011 (Limited Release - New York
and Los Angeles)
UK Release Date: 19 August 2011 (Limited Release)
Movie
reviews
Official
US website
Synopsis
THE GUARD is a comedic fish-out-of-water tale of murder, blackmail,
drug trafficking and rural police corruption. Two policemen must
join forces to take on an international drug smuggling gang - one,
an unorthodox Irish policeman and the other, a strait-laced FBI
agent.
Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleason) is an eccentric small town
cop with a confrontational and crass personality and a subversive
sense of humour. A long time policeman in County Galway, Boyle is a
maverick with his own moral code. He has seen enough of the world to
know there isn't much to it and has had plenty of time to think
about it.
When a fellow police officer disappears and Boyle's small town
becomes key to a large drug trafficking investigation, he is forced
to at least feign interest when dealing with the humourless FBI
agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) assigned to the case. Left to
run his territory to his liking for many years, he is not at all
impressed when the FBI comes to town. Everett looks down on Boyle as
a low-level provincial policeman with a limited and flippant view of
the world; Boyle sees Everett as a by-the-book policeman with a chip
on his shoulder and no understanding of how the real world runs.
Despite the fact that Boyle seems more interested in mocking and
undermining Everett than in actively working to solve the case,
Boyle finds that circumstances keep pulling him back into the thick
of it. As unconventional as Boyle is, these events unwittingly
offend his murky moral code. He realizes that he needs to take
matters into his own hands, and that Everett is the only person he
can trust. And so the scene is set for an unlikely friendship and
explosive finale.
Shot by Larry Smith against the epic grandeur of Ireland, the
scenery juxtaposes with the inventive soundtrack from
Americana/alternative country band Calexico. Written by John Michael
McDonagh (Ned Kelly), THE GUARD marks McDonagh’s feature
directorial debut.
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