Full Review: The Guard

Grade: A+

Sergeant Gerry Boyle is a rather unorthodox Irish policeman who has been working in west Ireland for a long time. However, shortly after a mysterious mystery in a local town, an FBI agent from the states shows up in search of a cocaine smuggling ring. Boyle is teamed up with agent Everett and the two do not get along very well as Boyle likes to make many inappropriate and offensive jokes. As the violence begins to escalate the two finally are forced to cooperate with each other and begin to form a bit of a friendship.

The Guard is a fascinating and surprisingly funny movie. I was extremely impressed with this movie and how it played out. I was interested in seeing it after watching the trailer for it a while back, mostly because of the cast, but I was unsure of how the movie would actually play out. I was very glad to see that the movie has a wonderful sense of humor and kept me laughing throughout the course of the movie. The characters are extremely well written and even better portrayed by their respective actors. The film is also really well shot and the cinematography really shows off the beauty of the Irish countryside.

The cast is what interested me the most in this movie and they did not disappoint. Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter, In Bruges) plays the lead role of Sergeant Gerry Boyle, a wisecracking Irish policeman. Gleeson was absolutely wonderful and perfect in this role, this is probably one of my favorite performances of his. Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2, Ocean’s Eleven) plays the role of FBI agent Wendell Everett. Cheadle did a great job with this role and countered Gleeson’s character very well. Mark Strong (Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes) plays the role of Clive Cornell, the leader of the cocaine smugglers. Strong did a great job, he always does an amazing job playing the bad guy.

The Guard is a surprisingly good movie that is fun to watch and will make you laugh a lot. I will say though, sometimes the accents are hard to understand, but I don’t think it’s too bad. The movie is loaded with many great moments, the story is great, the writing is fantastic and the actors all do a wonderful job. It is a fun comedy thriller movie to enjoy during this slow period at the movies.