The Guard

The Guard 2011

• Director: McDonagh, John Michael
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Fionnula Flanagan, Mark Strong, Rory Keenan, Laurence Kinlan, Liam Cunningham, Wale Ojo
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Brendan Gleeson – Alone in Berlin, Suffragette, Edge of Tomorrow, Harry Potter, Perrier’s Bounty, In Bruges, Breakfast on Pluto, Kingdom of Heaven, Cold Mountain, Gangs of New York, 28 Days Later, AI, My Life So Far, Braveheart
• Don Cheadle – Hotel Rwanda, Crash, The United States of Leland, Mission to Mars, Devil in a Blue Dress
• Fionnula Flanagan – Lost, The Invention of Dying, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, A Mother’s Son
• Mark Strong – 1917, Stockholm, Before I Go to Sleep, The Imitation Game,
  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Sherlock Holmes, Young Victoria, Sunshine, Fever Pitch
• Rory Keenan – Primeval, Ella Enchanted
• Lauren Kinlan – Breakfast on Pluto, Ned Kelly
• Liam Cunningham – Doctor Who, Merlin, Good Vibrations, Camelot, Perrier’s Bounty, Hunger, The Catherine Tate Show, Breakfast on Pluto, Jude
• Wale Ojo – Johnny English Reborn
• Why? Gleeson and Cheadle
• Seen: 12 January 2023      

       Gerry (Gleeson) is a rural garda with a foul mouth, a dying mother (Flanagan), a racist outlook and a fondness for Disneyland. He has a murder on his hands. Into that steps FBI Special Agent Wendell (Cheadle) hunting down an international drug ring involving Irish drug dealers (Strong, Cunningham et al). Gerry: ‘I thought all drug dealers were black.’ Needless to say, Wendell is not charmed.

       It’s a mishmash story with mishmash characters. It’s humorous at times but it’s really just a crooked-racist-but-lovable (or not) cop, a straight cop-who-comes-to-respect-the-other-one drug heist film. Not the 4* or 5* film I was expecting with this cast but there are enough eccentric characters, smart dialog and melancholy to earn it      

3 ½ * of 5