The Guard

I’m not sure how to take this movie. The humor is very British, or more accurately Irish and The Guard has a comic sensibility all its own. Brendan Gleeson plays a maverick police officer in a remote part of County Galway. He believes in protecting his little part of the world but he does it in his own way ignoring rules and procedures if they are too much of a nuisance. He knows his town and he knows his people and like a beat cop in America, not much gets by him. But he has no use for the politics, corruption or outside interference of others, this is his home and he’s on the job.

When Sergeant Gerry Boyle responds to a murder and finds that he’s strapped with a new young officer from the city (Rory Keenan) Boyle goes out of the way to show him that things are different in Galway. Boyle displays absolutely no respect for forensics, protocol, or the victim’s dignity. But when his new partner’s wife, (Katarina Cas) arrives at his door to tell him that her husband didn’t come home, he is genuinely concerned. Underneath his rough exterior he’s a tender man.

The next day Sergeant Boyle’s world is rocked again when an American F.B.I. agent, (Don Cheadle) shows up looking for a drug smuggling ring and a half billion dollars worth of cocaine. Boyle shows his true colors by being a smart-ass in the briefing and he and the uptight American agent get off on the wrong foot. Once on his own turf, Boyle becomes invaluable because the locals are tight-lipped, suspicious and will have nothing to do with a black, American, English speaking, police officer. In a town that speaks Gaelic, FBI agent Wendall Everett could not be more out of place.

Behind his lazy irreverent appearance Sergeant Boyle is a deep man. He probably inherited his irreverent streak from his feisty mother (Fionnula Flanagan) who is dying from cancer and doing it on her own terms. They share a love of good literature, music and cutting people down to size. Boyle is also a favorite among the prostitutes because he makes their dates nights as much fun for them as he does himself. He is a strange complicated man.

When the drug runners do arrive, they are not your typical thugs either. They play intellectual memory games in the car and believe in reducing their work load by being smart which means bribing cops, intimidating locals and removing obstacles whenever necessary. When they discover that the FBI is in Ireland, Mark Strong is particularly funny as he criticizes American culture and their goody-two-shoes policing ethics.

If you are tired of all the police procedurals and action films of late and want to cleanse your palette than this film will do the trick. It’s like a little cop vacation in Ireland. Everything is the same but different, and the film will leave you guessing.

Rating: First Run If Clint Eastwood was Irish