Saints Not For Everyone

Boondock Saints I mean. What did you think I was going to say, us Latter Day Saints? Silly gooses, I am a proud card carrying member! Okay I don't have a card that is true but I never take off my CTR ring, and I mean never.

Does anyone else ever find themselves in the shower or car or someplace and in your mind you talk out a really great post? Of course not...I am odd, I know it. But I have these "conversations/posts" happen and then when I go to write them, they NEVER turn out as they did in my head!! How annoying, don't you agree? It was so good in my head but then I try to capture that whimsy or snarkiness or whatever and it just does NOT happen!Grrr!

Anyway, as all I did today was errands and buy a movie I have been waiting to go direct to dvd forever (Posession, no I have not seen it so I might have wasted 15 bucks) and watch Criminal Minds and return stuff to stores, so...

I decided to talk about Boondock Saints and its' sequel. No I am not going to recommend this movie or it's sequel outright. This so-far two part movie series is very difficult to even explain. Not just what it is about, but why I LIKE it.

It IS strange that I like both the original and it's sequel because it is chock full of disgusting references to the male anatomy and full fledged profanity and the like. And I HATE that. Some of you know that about me, I hate crudity, especially words. My "BAD" words are crap and bloody. So I do consider myself pretty tame in language.

Anyway Boondock Saints and it's sequel are just full of it, so when I saw the original I expected I would hate it by the end and it would never be watched by me again. But as full of vulgarities as it was, I could see beyond that to the story being told. And the actual story, minus vulgar talk and images, I just found myself mesmerized by. I found these Irish Catholic fraternal twins who share a dream that the Lord wants them to clean up Boston, riveting. I mean, they were only killing bad men. Majorly evil men, mob people who killed and did all sorts of awful things. Maybe you think, man Wendy, you have a vicious streak in you, or Wendy what is going on with your sense of right and wrong? Well, maybe I do have a vengeful streak or maybe since I DO (and yes I DO know) know that it is just a movie, I can go YEAH KILL THEM and know I am okay in the head. LOL. I loved that they left a penny on each eye for the ferryman on the River Styxx. I love the prayer they recite before they do the special execution where they shoot from the back of the head and the bullet go through the eyes. Yeah these 2 movies are also pretty bloody. But I was just like, wowed by the story and I still have no idea why I am drawn to it.

I mean you have Willem Dafoe being just the weirdest FBI agent ever, who decides "The Saints" are actually doing good so he not only keeps their identities a secret, he helps them by the end of the movie. He even dresses in drag, and there is just something...odd, about how comfortable Willem seems in this role. It is like, um Mr. Dafoe, is there something you want to share with your fans? And three Boston cops end up helping them and keeping the secret too. Half of Boston loves them and sides with them, it is crazy! Yet for some reason I find it fascinating. Every time I see it on sale, I am THIS close to buying it. Heck, I know when I go on vacation in May, if I see the two for sale, especially together somewhere, I will most likely feel COMPELLED to buy them.

I thought the original was just a fluke, but when it got out on dvd yesterday, I rented The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day. And the vulgarity was just as bad, if not worse than the original. But Connor and Murphy were just as...well, cool. These are crime thrillers, yet they have this humorous/wacky feel to them sometimes. Even as they are going around shooting up 27 men, I find the twins and their father (Billy Connelly) and their co-conspirators, funny. I have no idea what it is!! I was almost immediately hooked in again.

The twins and their equally deadly assassin father Noah, went back to Ireland after they finished their cleansing of Bean-town 8 years ago. In fact, all three recited the special prayer and shot the biggest bad guy together in front of a court room of witnesses. They have been sheep farmers for the last 8 years. But then someone not only murders a priest in Boston who they loved. They murder them to make it look like the work of "The Saints". So the boys go home, and get a new "Saint" who wants to help with their mission, on the way. Clifton Collins, Jr is hilarious as weepy, but an amazing killer, Romeo. They go to seek vengeance for the priest and to kill anyone associated with his death. Which is basically the mafia of Boston 8 years later. So they have a lot of clean up to do again. And Willem Dafoe had said he wouldn't return, so they made it so his character trained a NEW "guardian angel" FBI agent when he died. The first FEMALE really in either movie. Eunice Bloom played by Julie Benz, who does rock the role I must say. She is in charge of the case and helps keep these boys from being discovered. Unfortunately the problem is even bigger than they thought and goes back to their fathers beginning so he returns to help his sons and confront the really bad guy behind it ALL. Eunice is discovered when she infiltrates the FBI computer for info the Saints need in their final quest, so she is on the run. And by the end of the movie, after they finish their justice, which I can't help but be all "YEAH!!", they ARE arrested. Badly wounded, but alive. Which makes you wonder, when it is like 2 brothers up against 40 bad guys, how is it they get away alive? Are they on a mission from God? Because they share another vision/dream in the sequel when they doubt themselves. And shared dreams, exactly alike, where you are even startled awake simultaneously, do NOT really happen. Not much at least. So it ends with a newly hair dyed Eunice being helped by one of the priests the boys know. She is being sent somewhere where she will be safe and who do we run INTO AFTER ALL?!!! Willem Dafoe as Agent Smecker, who is NOT dead, a shock to his protege!! He basically tells her they have not only half of the state of Mass. on their side, but the Catholic Church too! And their first order of business? Get the boys OUT of Hoag prison, which is apparently a very tough prison. And that is where it ends. And I was like Nooooo! I need to see them freed NOW!

Some of you may be thinking, Oh Wendy you are going to Hell because you have even admitted to viewing these majorly R-rated movies, let alone liking them. Well I say, poop on you! I told you, I have no idea why these two movies grab me so! They have way too much swearing, though I am a child of this time period, so I am kinda desensitized, especially since I DO watch R movies. I admit it. Bite me. I am sticking my tongue at you right now. Anyway, I admit I am mystified as to why I can wade through such gross garbage and like everything ELSE about the movie. The concept is that it? I have no idea. The acting maybe? No clue, though I do love Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus (hotties). There is just something about Boondock Saints that has me intrigued enough to wade through the garbage to the gem underneath.

Anyway, no I am not reccomending the movies. If I did, half of you would have apopleptic shock and never read me again. And any of you thinking this makes me a "bad" Mormon, well first off, screw that. Just because I enjoy R movies, does not make me a bad anything. Just like being a Molly Mormon or pious and holier-than-thou, does not make you a "good" Mormon, or a better one. I love being Mormon, I love my religion and No, I do not think the Lord will look poorly on me for having seen these movies. I think he is way more understanding than us mere mortals will ever understand, and I also think he has a sense of humor and can understand that some PG-13 movies should be the ones considered bad, and some R movies should be seen by MORE people. So do not judge me for watching R movies. I am a deviant, what can I say? A rebel Mormon. But do I think the Lord loves YOU more because you stick with G and PG? Not at all. I think HE made me, so he knows what I find humorous, what I find captivating, etc. He knows that while I find the supernatural and such so interesting, I am NOT about to convert to Wiccan. He knows even when I wade through other movies full of garbage, that if there is nothing BUT garbage, I will never see that movie again and will share that thought with others. Because he KNOWS ME.

I just wanted to talk about these movies and why I find it confusing, even to myself, why I find them so interesting. And that led me to anyone judging me for what I watch. And I won't allow you to judge me for what I watch. I don't PICK a movie because it might be rated R, I pick movies that intrigue me, seem interesting to ME. And I don't believe that makes me any less a devout Mormon, than the next person. Whose with me?!