Review: The Guard

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The Guard

The Irish buddy-cop comedy The Guard, opening Friday at Arbor and Violet Crown, is an interesting study in contrasts between typical American crime films and their European counterparts. Slow paced, quiet and character driven, The Guard has all the hallmarks of box-office disaster for any American movie about cops and their adversaries. There is little action or gunfire until the climax and a scant splatter or two of blood.

What The Guard does have -- which may not be enough to hold the interest of domestic audiences -- is plenty of wit and sparkling chemistry between its stars.

Set in Ireland's rural west -- a rugged, misty landscape where the first language for many is Gaelic -- The Guard explores the unlikely alliance between Irish Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) and American FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle), who team up to investigate an international drug smuggling ring linked to the disappearance of one of Boyle's fellow officers. The pair are a classic (actually, completely clichéd) cop movie odd couple, a brash, subversive rule-breaking small-town cop with a fondness for prostitutes paired with a low-key, straight-laced FBI agent.

Their relationship is derailed before it starts, when Boyle -- who has no use for anyone meddling in his territory -- interrupts Everett's briefing to say he thought "only black lads were drug dealers -- and Mexicans." (His defense is, "I'm Irish, sir. Racism is part of me culture.") The frostiness between the two thaws only a little through most of the film, although Cheadle does come to appreciate Boyle's humanity and develops a grudging respect for his streetwise, thoroughly malleable approach to police work.

Boyle and Everett's nemeses are three smugglers who are mostly clichés also, except for their amusing penchant for discussing philosophical tenets while plotting various misdeeds. Philosophical debates aside, the three are soulless killers; Boyle tempts fate when he refuses their offer to buy him off, as they have done with all his fellow officers.

Yes -- we've seen all this before and seen it done better.  The Guard holds few surprises and doesn't fully develop its story or explore its themes (among them, culture shock and moral relativism) in any real depth. (My guest at the screening summed up The Guard in a single word: "Slight.") The Guard is watchable and likeable, but there's very little meat on its slickly produced bones.

What may save The Guard --at least for patient viewers not expecting crime film mayhem -- are a witty script, Boyle and Everett's reluctant but palpable chemistry, and Gleeson's fine performance as Boyle, the film's only fully realized character.

The script has respectably snappy, snarky dialogue, gleefully skewering small-town provincialism, inbred racism, cynical law enforcement and Irish politics alike. Not even the IRA goes unscathed; one of the film's funniest lines is about the IRA recruiting gay men because “it was the only way we could successfully infiltrate the [British intelligence agency] MI5."

Boyle and Everett's relationship arguably is The Guard's greatest cliché, but Gleeson and Cheadle keep things surprisingly fresh. Thanks to a polished script, their banter is easy and natural. Their reluctant bond never grows beyond a believable state of subtle respect (albeit Everett seems to gain more respect for Boyle than vice versa); in this pairing, typical buddy-cop mutual affection would not be credible.

All the film's performances are fine but unmemorable; the script gives only Gleeson enough to work with to fully flesh out his character. As such, Gleeson carries the entire film with his nuanced take on Boyle, inhabiting as jaundiced a movie cop as we've seen in many years. But for all his grumpy cynicism and relativistic interpretations of legal procedure, Boyle fiercely guards his integrity. Gleeson conveys this underlying pride best in the film's quieter moments, such as when he admires himself in his dress blues before a mirror. Boyle is also a person of great humanity; again, Gleeson reveals this best during reflective moments, especially in his interplay with his dying mother.

The Guard is also lovingly shot, all sweeping Irish coasts and grassy vistas, noir styling and interiors full of pop-art colors, creating visual sparks to contrast its low-key storytelling.

Are The Guard's graces enough to overcome its formulaic shortcomings? It is indeed slight and predictable, but I'll cautiously recommend it for its great humor and Gleeson's superb performance.