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‘Boondock Saints’ sequel’s sinfully awful

By James Verniere
Saturday, October 31, 2009 -
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BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY: C+

Baby boomers have “The Godfather.” Gen-Yers have the notably less-worthy “The Usual Suspects.” Whatever today’s generation calls itself gets “The Boondock Saints?” Bummer.

Cleverly titled, if little else, “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” should satisfy the hue for a follow-up to Troy Duffy’s campy Boston-set 1999 cult film “The Boondock Saints.” After that, it is anybody’s guess.

Say welcome home to twins Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy MacManus (Norman Reedus), who return to the Hub after spending 10 years, Corleone-style, riding horses in Ireland and growing the phoniest-looking beards this side of the Shire.

Someone has killed a Boston priest in the signature style of the boys’ 1999 revenge killings, an open invitation for the Latin-spouting, pseudo-mystical vigilantes to return.

Their seeming adversary this time goes by the unlikely tag of Concezio Yakavetta (Judd Nelson!), a crime kingpin who likes to hide in a panic room because he fears assassination.

At the same time, sexy FBI Special Agent Eunice Bloom (a tart turn by Julie Benz of “Dexter”), is such a stunning crime scene analyst she ought to be the lead in “CSI: Boston.”

Also on hand are Connor and Murphy’s grizzled, hirsute dad Noah “Il Duce” MacManus (Billy Connolly) and the Three Stooges of the Boston Police Department, Detectives Greenly (a funny Bob Marley), Duffy (Brian Mahoney) and Dolly (David Ferry).

Shot and written again in a style that suggests Quentin Tarantino for dummies, “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” boasts preposterous Hong Kong-action-inspired shootouts, reams of dialogue that should been left on the cutting room floor, the occasional laugh as well as homophobic or racist remark. Most of the latter is directed at Clifton Collins Jr.’s Mexican character Romeo, who becomes the MacManus brothers’ sidekick. The scene in which Yakavetta is introduced is a steal from Brian De Palma’s 1987 film “The Untouchables.”

Otherwise, “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” most resembles a 1970s Blaxploitation film with a white cast. At the same time, I must admit I laughed at Romeo’s “try-out” tag line, “Who ordered the whoop-a** fajitas?”

Final scenes featuring an almost unrecognizable (almost) Peter Fonda as a kind of Italian-American Keyser Soze are noteworthy for Fonda’s incomprehensible accent.

Between the first “Saints” film and the second, writer-director Duffy has not written or directed another completed film. Creatively, he’s stuck in the “Boondock.”

Rated R. At AMC Loews Boston Common, Regal Fenway Stadium and suburban theaters.

(“The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” contains profanity, graphic gun violence, lewd language and worst of all is two hours long.)

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HUB FLUB: Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy...
HUB FLUB: Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Connolly, Norman Reedus and Clifton Collins Jr., from left, star in the Boston-set ‘Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.”

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