The Guard

Brendan Gleeson Director: John Michael McDonagh John Michael McDonagh

Overview

Confrontational Irish cop Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) reluctantly teams with uptight FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) to take down a gang of international drug traffickers in this comedy thriller co-starring Mark Strong, Rory Keenan, and Liam Cunningham.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/03/2012
UPC:	0043396392106
Original Release:	2010
Rating:	R
Source:	Sony Pictures
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound]
Time:	1:36:00

Special Features

Outtakes; Deleted & extended scenes; The Second Death short film; Commentary with director John Michael McDonagh and actors Don Cheadle & Brendan Gleeson

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Brendan Gleeson	Gerry Boyle
Don Cheadle	Wendell Everett
Rory Keenan	Aidan McBride
Liam Cunningham	Francis Sheehy-Skeffington
David Wilmot	Liam O'Leary
Mark Strong	Clive Cornell
Fionnula Flanagan	Eileen Boyle
Dominique McElligott	Aoife O'Carroll
Sarah Greene	Sinead Mulligan
Katarina Cas	Gabriela McBride
Wale Ojo	Doctor Oleyuwo
Ronan Collins	Young Man in Car
Conor Moloney	Detective
Laura Hitchings	Female Garda
Sharon Kearney	Woman at Bartley's House
Declan Mannion	James McCormick
Laurence Kinlan	Photographer
David Pearse	Bartley
Michael Og Lane	Eugene Moloney
Eamonn Olwill	Priest
Owen Sharpe	Billy Devaney
Yuyang Shields	Diner Waitress
Mark O'Halloran	Garda No. 1
Pat Shortt	Column Hennessey
Gary Lydon	Gerry Stanton
Gay McKeon	Musician
Mary Corcoran	Musician
Darren Healy	Jimmy Moody
Colm Gannon	Musician
Johnny McDonagh	Musician
Dominick Hewitt	Henchmen
Giedrius Nagys	Henchmen
Dermot Healy	Old Farmer
Gary Robinson	Henchmen
Paraic Nialand	Young Man In Car
John Patrick Beirne	Young Man In Car
Liam O'Conghaile	Young Man in Car
Christopher Kilmartin	Young Man in Car

Technical Credits

John Michael McDonagh

John Michael McDonagh	Director,Screenwriter
Paul Brett	Executive Producer
Calexico	Score Composer
Don Cheadle	Executive Producer
Chris Clark	Producer
Elizabeth Eves	Associate Producer
Flora Fernandez-Marengo	Producer
Liz Gallacher	Musical Direction/Supervision
Chris Gill	Editor
Ed Guiney	Producer
Jina Jay	Casting
Ralph Kamp	Executive Producer
John Paul Kelly	Production Designer
Andrew Lowe	Producer
Lee Magiday	Associate Producer
Martin McDonagh	Executive Producer
Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh	Costumes/Costume Designer
David Nash	Executive Producer
Tim Smith	Executive Producer
Larry Smith	Cinematographer
Lenore Zerman	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

Some actors are like bacon -- they make anything they're in even better. Brendan Gleeson is just about the best cinematic bacon in the world, but with The Guard, he gets to be the main course -- and a flavorful dish it is indeed. He plays Gerry Boyle, an honorable cop with a taste for alcohol, drugs, and hookers, who also makes time to be a good son to his dying mother. Writer/director John Michael McDonagh establishes Boyle's personal code with the opening scene of the movie, involving Boyle's darkly comic take on a fatal car accident, then slowly lets us see how good and smart a man this seemingly corrupted small-town cop actually is. Boyle is put to the test when by-the-book FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) arrives in Ireland tracking down three drug traffickers, who are supposedly going to ship a half-billion dollars in cocaine through the town's port. Boyle and Everett clash initially -- the Irishman's seemingly casual racism and frumpy appearance don't sit well with the uptight, honest American -- but Everett slowly catches on that Boyle knows much more than he lets on. The Guard is a perfectly solid crime story, but this is a character study first and foremost, and with Gleeson front and center throughout, we're treated to a hilarious and touching portrait of stereotypical John Wayne manliness mixed with Irish sensitivities and Charlie Sheen's idea of relaxation. Gleeson revels in this meaty part, bringing out Boyle's loving side in the conversations with his mother with just as much authenticity as when he showcases the man's wild side during a romp with two prostitutes. The whole cast is pitch-perfect, and Cheadle offers flawless comic support, but this is Gleeson's show from beginning to end. As far as difficult tones go, dark comedy is one of the toughest to capture. McDonagh's deft screenplay manages the tricky feat of actually being lightly dark, shading its main character just enough so that we're surprised how much we care about what will happen to him during the inevitable final shoot-out that ends the movie. In that way and many others, the film resembles In Bruges, which was written and directed by Martin McDonagh, who is not only the executive producer here but also the brother of the director. Don't be thrown off by the thick Irish accents, The Guard has a stellar lead performance, some very big laughs, and manages to offer an original take on the hard-boiled detective -- one of the most enduring archetypes in movie history.

All Movie Guide - Perry Seibert