Hit man movie is violent, profane, and provocative.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 17+?
Any Positive Content?
Language
a lot
Lots of language, including 100+ uses of "f--k" and several of "c--t," plus fewer uses of "s--t," (several with "hole," a couple with "horse"), "prick," "a--hole," "hell," and "p---y." Derogatory terms like "poof" and "fag" are also used, and there's heated discussion of racism.
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Hit men frequently discuss murder. Images (flashbacks as well as present time) show brutal, bloody, loud violence. Weapons include guns, knives, and fists; effects include the decimation of heads and limbs. A young boy is shot in the head (bloody image recurs, haunting the killer); a man falls off a tower, with explicit results. Discussion of suicide, and one man almost shoots himself in the mouth. Finale features repeated shooting, foot chase through city streets, lots of blood, and visible pain.
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Frequent smoking and drinking (liquor, beer, wine), in cafes, pubs, and hotel room; several scenes show drug consumption (snorting cocaine); pills discovered in a hiding place; repeated references to drugs (cocaine, heroin).
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Brief sex scene between Ray and Chloe (non-explicit passionate roll on bed); Chloe appears in bra and panties. References to hookers (a prostitute appears kissing a client); at a party, couples tongue kiss. Primary couple kisses passionately near the end.
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The film encourages viewers to think about the topics that the main characters discuss, but there really isn't any positive takeaway amid the violent mayhem.
Positive Role Models
very little
The hit men are charismatic but also plainly troubled and confused. The employer is selfish and cruel but espouses a strict moral code (when someone kills a child, that someone must die). Other characters sell drugs, live dissolute lifestyles, and more.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this violent action dramedy is focused on the relationship between two professional assassins. While their conversations range from darkly comic to philosophical, the film's imagery is incessantly brutal and bloody. Weapons include guns, knives, and fists. A young boy is shot in the head, a man is stabbed, men punch and kick, there's an attempted suicide by gun, a man falls off a tower (graphic images of his crushed body), and heads and limbs are decimated. There's some sexual imagery -- particularly a brief roll on a bed that's interrupted by a jealous, gun-toting boyfriend -- as well as nonstop language (especially "f--k") and strong drug imagery. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
Dark comedy with plenty of suspense. Not for kids, though.
Kids will find this movie at best boring, and at worst scarring.
This movie is about two Irish assassins who have to lay low in Bruge (hence the title), after a heist gone awry. The first half of the film is spent basically humanizing a couple of murderers, but in the best way possible. These are complex human beings, who do what they do not because they're evil, but because they're paid for it. We don't delve into the motivations of these two characters, but get the sense that they are who they are by circumstance rather than personality. They kill because they're paid to, not because they want to. Not that that's a redeeming quality at all...
But what happens in the film is quite different than in most films. The killers are humanized in such a way that you can't help but commiserate. Ray (Colin Farrell), is absolutely devastated by his mistake, and is willing to pay the ultimate price. Ken (Brendan Gleeson) is tasked with correcting that mistake in the most gangster-appropriate way possible, but is having second thoughts. These are two mobsters with a conscience, and it shows. Actually, throughout the whole movie, even the "big bad" guy Henry is shown to have his own set of rules and guidelines by which he lives, as messed up as it is. There's no truly evil person in this film. Just a cast of characters all which abide by a code of flawed morality. In fact, the only character in this film who believes himself to be truly evil is Colin Farrell, and even then, through his own self recognition, he is the least evil of all.
For that reason, this is a masterpiece. Also for that reason, this isn't a kids movie. I think it's above most children's heads to process the fact that almost nobody in this film is evil by their own definition.
There is plenty of alcohol, drugs, and violence. It's all done so tastefully, that this movie is nowhere near a gore-fest. It's all done with a purpose, but you can't expect the majority of kids to understand why it's done this way. That's why I rate it 16+ at a minimum. However, those that can appreciate it, will find this movie to be a deep character study which examines in particular two individuals who may have made the wrong life choices up til now. Maybe some will find it boring.
Certainly some parts are slow if you're used to your thrillers being in-your-face. But, in my mind, this is the perfect slow-burner thriller with just enough comedy elements (furnished by a frustrated Colin Farrell being stuck in possibly the most touristy & gentrified town in all of Belgium) to keep things on the brink of absurdity.
For these reasons, I also find it hard to characterize this movie in terms of Common Sense's buzzwords. "Too much violence"? Sure it's violent. But the violence serves a purpose, so I don't consider it too much. "Great messages"?? I can't comfortably say that, but what this movie tries to say is definitely salient. "Great role models"? They're murderers! But murderers with hearts. This movie doesn't fall into the general basic tropes that other films fall into, which makes it exceedingly hard to characterize.
And in the end, what you're left with is a bit of a cliffhanger. Not just in terms of what happens to our hero (or anti-hero?). What is hell? And is it just the equivalent of living the rest of our days in ****in' Bruges? [sic]
Dark comedy with a dash of melancholy and a memorable Fiennes performance
I saw this film quite a while ago and it did not make a lasting impression. Perhaps I was distracted when I first watched it, but the film's darkness did not resonate and the push/pull between Farrell's and Gleeson's characters felt too farfetched. However, upon a recent rewatch and more concentration I could appreciate the film a bit better and although it is still not a film that I love I am more attuned to its beat and style and can appreciate its melancholy and tragedy. And of course Fienne's memorable portrayal.
What's the Story?
The title of IN BRUGES is increasingly resonant, as two hit men -- Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) -- are dispatched to Belgium following a botched job in London. Ray hates the place, so full of history, while Ken is moved by the art and architecture. Each man's reaction to Bruges parallels his moral journey. Overcome by the guilt over what went wrong during his first assignment, Ray alternately frets, contemplates suicide, and acts out aggressively, while Ken tries to soothe him with sightseeing trips and philosophical chats. Temporarily distracted by the beautiful Chloe; (Clemence Poesy), Ray doesn't know that Ken has received grave instructions from their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes). As Ray contemplates suicide, Ken considers sacrificing himself to save Ray; both options are trumped, however, by Harry's observance of a strict moral code, which is underscored and undermined by the fact that he is, after all, a brutal gangster.
Anglo-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's first feature is darkly comic and dense with quick dialogue. It recalls films by Quentin Tarantino, in which desperate, violent characters discuss their life choices and relationships while simultaneously committing heinous acts. While the action is showy and the blood spurty, it's the evolving intimacy between Ken and Ray that is most compelling. Gleeson is especially moving as the aging Ken, who's realizing at long last the emotional and ethical costs of his career as he sees the effects on his newbie partner. Their conversations -- undertaken while walking through cobbled streets, ornate churches, and art museums -- suggest a thoughtful underside to all the nasty antics.
At the same time, the film delivers a now-familiar sort of garish brutality, fast-paced and sharply critical of the banalities that shape pop culture. The subplots are cacophonous and telling, one concerning a movie-within-the-movie inspired by Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (another film about the confusing links between guilt and righteousness) and another involving a "midget" actor named Jimmy (Jordan Prentice), whose frustrations with Ray's simplistic-seeming moral scheme serve as evocative comedy and complicate the movie's examination of genre, morality, and power hierarchies.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the violence in the movie. Is it gratuitous? Why or why not? What are the consequences of the assassins' violent acts?
What commentary is the movie making on the role of violence in today's culture?
Contrast Ray and Ken. What are their differences and similarities? What role do guilt and a sense of remorse play for both men?
MPAA explanation:
strong bloody violence, pervasive language and some drug use.
Last updated:
February 1, 2024
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