In Bruges: Difference between revisions

[[File:inbruges.jpg|thumb|400px||[["London, England" Syndrome|...it's in Belgium.]]]]

A 2008 tragicomedy about [[Hitman Withwith a Heart|two likable hitmen]] hiding out in [[Useful Notes/Belgium|Belgium]]. Ray is a rookie with a foul mouth, a fouler disposition, and a bizarre obsession with "midgets". Ken is an experienced professional with intellectual interests and curiosity about the medieval city's history (though he's no slouch in the profanity department). They spend their days either exploring the city, waiting for [[Mean Boss|their even more foul-mouthed]] [[Neighbourhood Friendly Gangsters|boss]] to call them and tell them what to do next, all the while providing much witty commentary about [[World Limited to Thethe Plot|beautiful-but-boring Bruges]].

First, it's revealed that Ray's last hit went horribly wrong, and he's consumed with guilt over it. Then, he just keeps running into a Hieronymus Bosch painting of purgatory, a dwarf actor playing in a film based on a Hieronymus Bosch painting of purgatory, a cool chick who sells drugs to a dwarf actor playing in a film based on a Hieronymus Bosch painting of purgatory, and, well, a coked-out vision of purgatory. Ray spends his days grumpy, wondering if he'll go to hell or heaven or purgatory. And [[You ALL Share My Story|the more things start to come together]], the more they fall apart.

The first feature film by acclaimed British/Irish theatretheater director/playwright [[Martin McDonagh]], it was quite well-received. The performances from Colin Farrell (Ray), Brendan Gleeson (Ken), and Ralph Fiennes (fuckin' Harry) all earned plenty of praise, and the film even scored a dark horse [[Academy Award]] nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

* [[Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene]]: A [[Perspective Flip]] of the ratio of quiet to action scenes.

* [[Affably Evil]]: Harry Waters' whole plan is to give Ray the pleasant experience of visiting Bruges before {{spoiler|he has Ken kill him}}. Undercut by the fact that {{spoiler|Ray utterly despises fuckin' Bruges}}.

* [[Asshole Victim]]: Okay, we don't really know if Harry killed the {{spoiler|[[Jerkass]] tower guard}} but it is highly probable that he did. Either way, he definitely had it coming.

* [[Call Back]]: Ken and Harry aren't allowed in the tower because {{spoiler|"an American had a heart attack."}}

* [[Chekhov's Armoury]] - : {{spoiler|Between Harry's honor code against killing children, his purchase of "dum-dums" and the prevalence of the midget, there's quite a lot of [[Foreshadowing]] of the ending.}}.

{{quote| '''Harry''': {{spoiler|If I had killed a little kid, accidentally or otherwise, I wouldn't have thought twice. I'd have killed myself on the spot. I'd have put the gun in my mouth and killed myself, on the fucking spot.}}.}}

** Also, {{spoiler|Ray constantly commenting on how many midgets end up shooting themselves in the head}}.

** And that's forgetting {{spoiler|the tower custodian refusing to take Ken's just-short spare change.}}.

** The {{spoiler|Canadian}} that Ray hits, the fat Americans that go to the top of the tower and the gun Ray steals from Chloe/Erik.

* [[Cluster F-Bomb]] -: Ray, sometimes Ken, and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshadingly-so]] with Harry Waters.

{{quote| "Geez, he swears a lot, don't he?"}}

* {{spoiler|[[Contract Onon the Hitman]]}}

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]

* [[Dramatic Irony]]: {{spoiler|Harry kills himself because he doesn't know the small person whose head he blew off was a dwarf and not a child.}}.

** Also parodied when Ray picks a fight with some other American tourists, blaming them, personally, for killing John Lennon and starting [[The Vietnam War]]. Later, we find out {{spoiler|they're actually Canadians}}, and Ray feels bad about it.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Killing children is off limits. {{spoiler|Harry holds himself to this so much so that he killed himself when he believed he accidentally killed a kid.}}.

* [[Face Death Withwith Dignity]]: Ken. Though he'd apparently hoped it would stop Harry from shooting him at all. It didn't.

** {{spoiler|"You've got to stick to your principles."}}

** And quite possibly: {{spoiler|"I really, really hoped I wouldn't die."}}

* [[Genre Savvy]]:

{{quote| '''Harry''': "Don't be stupid. This is the [[Lampshade Hanging|shoot-out]]."}}

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Despite being shot in the leg and neck, Ken manages to climb back up to the bell tower and jump to the ground, alerting Ray to Harry's presence.}}.

** And then {{spoiler|this is subverted when Ray tries to stop Harry from committing suicide. He's so wounded that he can't finish his sentence, and Harry dies thinking he killed a child.}}.

* [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]]: Ray may be a rude, bigoted pottymouthpotty-mouth, but he feels genuinely guilty for {{spoiler|shooting the little boy.}}. Ken tactfully suggests that he might not really be cut out to be a professional killer.

* [[Kill Me Now or Forever Stay Your Hand]]: The stand off between Harry and Ken in the tower. {{spoiler|Partially subverted when Harry shoots Ken in the leg; fully subverted when Harry shoots to kill to prevent Ken from stopping Harry's attempt to kill Ray.}}.

* [[London Gangster]]: Harry. Ken and Ray are London based but are obviously Irish (Ray explicitly mentions being from Dublin and since Brendan Gleeson uses his own accent Ken is presumably a Dub too.) .

* [[More Dakka]]: Averted by Harry's choice of weapon when buying guns. He is offered an Uzi, but is disdainful of it, asking for "a normal gun for a normal person"."

* [[My Greatest Failure]]: {{spoiler|Ray can't get over accidentally shooting a little boy.}}.

** For one, one scene was played in the trailers for (dark) comedy when it was actually the lead-up to the central drama of the piece: Ray pulls off his {{spoiler|first}} hit against the presumably deserving priest, quipping all the way; the clip in the trailer cuts off before {{spoiler|he discovers that a stray or overpenetratingover-penetrating bullet killed a small child awaiting confession}}.

** The movie suffered in the United States because it was horrendously advertised. It picked up steam once the critics began saying "It's good"."

* [[Noble Demon]]: Harry has principles.

* [[Precision F-Strike]]: {{spoiler|The hotel owner, Marie}} telling Ray and Harry to fuck off.

* [[Pregnant Badass]]: Marie, the hotel owner. While not kicking huge amounts of ass in the traditional sense, she shows enormous courage, standing up to an armed man and refusing to let him upstairs.

* [[Reckless Gun Usage]]: [[Averted]] beautifully. Ken is very careful with his guns. Harry locks his guns away when he's at home so his kids can't get at them. Both Ken and Harry practice good trigger discipline throughout the film. Ray is a bit more careless, but as he's much younger, reckless and a bit suicidal, this is in character for him (and he never points a gun at anyone he doesn't want to kill, though his occasional poor aim when he does want to kill someone tends to get him in trouble.). At one point a man tries to rob Ray with a gun loaded with blanks — Ray wrestles the gun off him and fires into the man's face at point-blank range. The blanks leave him permanently blind in one eye.

* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: The film might as well be subtitled ''Redemption Equals Death: The Movie"''.

* [[Sarcastic Confession]]: Ray confessing to [[My Greatest Failure]] on a first date, and Chloe admitting to her profession in response, both laughing it off as a big joke;:

{{quote| '''Chloe:''' So what do you do?<br />

'''Ray:''' I... shoot people for money.<br />

'''Chloe:''' ''[smiling]'' What kinds of people?<br />

'''Ray:''' Priests, children... you know, the usual.<br />

'''Chloë:''' Is there a lot of money to be made in that business?<br />

'''Ray:''' There is for priests. There isn't for children. So what is it you do, Chloë?<br />

'''Chloë:''' I sell cocaine and heroin to Belgian film crews. }}

* [[Tempting Fate]]: The tower guard repeatedly prodding Harry in the face, as he just stands there paralysedparalyzed with fury. Yeah, you might not want to do that...

{{quote| '''Ray''': Maybe that's what hell is, the entire rest of eternity spent in fucking Bruges.}}

{{quote| '''Eirik:''' I was trying to rob him. And he took my gun from me. And the gun was full of blanks. And he shot a blank into my eye. And now I cannot see from this eye ever again, the doctors say.<br />

'''Harry:''' Well to be honest, it sounds like it's all your fault.<br />

'''Eirik:''' What?<br />

'''Harry:''' I mean basically if you're robbing a man and you're only carrying blanks and you allow your gun to be taken off you and you allow yourself to be shot in the eye with a blank, which I assume that the person has to get quite close to you to do, then yeah. Really it's all your fault for being such a poof, so why don't you stop whinging and cheer the fuck up. }}

[[Category:Films of the 2000s{{PAGENAME}}]]