The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

Prequel: “The Boondock Saints” (1999)

“Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” is the second installment of the brutal vigilante escapades of Irish Catholic fraternal twin brothers, Murphy and Connor MacManus. Having wiped out a good portion of the Russian mafia in Boston, the Brothers have gone into seclusion in dear old Ireland with their recently reunited father. The movie begins with an old enemy “calling” them out, by having an innocent priest savagely murdered back in Boston. As vigilante executioners of god’s ordained justice, they have no “moral” choice but to return, in order to render the purpose they have been called to.

The Brothers return to Boston picking up a strangely paired Hispanic bloodletter who shares their desire for justice. He does not retain the same moral and biblical convictions of his mentors, but deeply shares the need to end lives of hooligans and hardcases of Boston. The Brothers also reacquaint themselves, personally, with the FBI having a new agent simultaneously track them and help them. Essentially using the same mysterious profiling, this agent only changes in gender from the first installment. Moving through a fairly predictable set of chapters, the threesome end lives in gruesome and adventurous fashion, banter about in sophomoric brotherly beatings, and end up in impossible situations that only divinely directed assassins could prevail.

The appeal of this movie seems to be in its vigilantism, its attempt to wield hand weapons of mass destruction, in the brotherly banter of Murphy and Connor, and in its perceived seal of approval by a divine source. While these appeal somewhere down deep to the core dark portion of some hearts, they are not carried out in an effective manner to duly satiate that dark need. At one point, the Brothers enter what I would call a candy store of weaponry, only to exit with their signature dual fisted magnum autos with silencers. Perhaps the director wanted to avoid the use of heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, snipers and just about any other sort of loud, juicy weaponry that hung on the wall for the more sophisticated and surgical use of silenced pistols. Sort of a let down though.

So the story finally ends with a large body count, victory for the vigilantes and the predicable, but sad, loss of one of the secondary heroes. And, we are left with an unfulfilling story, a layer of filth on our hearts and minds and the hint that there could be a third attempt to pollute the theaters with more violence and less substance, albeit, another 10 years down the road. Somewhere in the middle of the film, Connor captures the essence of the entire movie with his signature line: “Let’s do some gratuitous violence.”

As a Christian, I cannot imagine one person on the face of the planet that could conjure up a good enough reason to endure this movie (sadly, I have become the sacrificial lamb on this one). The language is vile, extreme, overwhelming and lengthy. The death count and method is unreportable. The purpose weak and ungodly. The “F” word is used so many times that it becomes nauseating. And, of greatest offense beyond the aforementioned, Jesus’ name is thrown about without any respect and, in many instances, as a curse word.

The whole premise of the movie is that the Brothers are somehow ordained by God to do these despicable acts, as if He needed such vigilantes to do His bidding. God, of course, does not need us to carry out justice, in any fashion (let alone savagely), while reciting prayers over the corpses, as if to lay them to rest. Job 8:3 says, “Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?” While God’s justice is sure, it is surely not in our hands to dole out.

I can’t imagine Catholics being at all pleased with this movie either. The Brothers are shown on multiple occasions, partaking in mass, praying at the altar, confessing and praying over the slain or soon to be slain. It really makes light of the traditions Catholics adhere to and certainly does not follow Scripture, in any regard.

There are so many Biblical commands that are violated in this movie, it’s almost senseless to address them. Some that stand out boldly are Exodus 20:13, “Thou shall not murder,” Romans 12:19, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath {of God,} for it is written, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,’ says the Lord,” and Ephesians 4:29, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such {a word} as is good for edification according to the need {of the moment,} so that it will give grace to those who hear.”

While this movie seems to attract some sort of cult status, despite its poor storyline, it just is not acceptable. Please pass on it and find an action movie elsewhere.

Violence: Extreme / Profanity: Extreme / Sex/Nudity: Moderate

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