| The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day |
|
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Troy Duffy |
| Produced by | Chris Brinker Don Carmody |
| Written by | Troy Duffy |
| Starring | Sean Patrick Flanery Norman Reedus Clifton Collins Jr. Julie Benz Billy Connolly Judd Nelson Peter Fonda David Della Rocco |
| Music by | Jeff Danna |
| Cinematography | Miroslaw Baszak |
| Editing by | Bill DeRonde Paul Kumpata |
| Studio | Stage 6 Films |
| Distributed by | Apparition |
| Release date(s) | October 19, 2009 (Boston premiere) October 30, 2009 (United States) |
| Running time | 117 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8 million[1] |
| Box office | $10,273,188[1] |
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day is the 2009 sequel to 1999's The Boondock Saints. Written and directed by original Boondock Saints creator Troy Duffy, the film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus, who return to their roles, as well as several of the other actors from the first film.
The film takes place eight years after the events of the original Boondock Saints, as sibling vigilantes Connor (Flanery) and Murphy (Reedus) are living a quiet life with their father, the former assassin known as "Il Duce." However, they are drawn back into action after someone attempts to frame the brothers for the murder of a priest in Boston. The duo travel back to the United States, where they meet some old friends and are pursued by Eunice Bloom (Julie Benz), FBI Agent and former protege of the first film's Agent Smecker.
Duffy has mentioned the possibility of following up the film with a second sequel, tentatively titled The Boondock Saints III: Saints Preserve Us.[2]
Contents |
After the MacManus brothers, Connor and Murphy (Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus), and their father, Noah (Billy Connolly), assassinated Papa Joe Yakavetta, they fled to Ireland. Eight years later, their uncle Sibeal (Mairtin O'Carrigan), a priest, arrives to inform them that a renowned Boston priest was murdered by a mysterious assassin who attempted to frame the Saints by using their ritual assassination style. In response, the brothers dig up their old gear and weapons and depart for the United States.
En route to Boston aboard a container ship, they meet a Mexican underground fighter named Romeo (Clifton Collins Jr.), who recognizes them as the Saints. Romeo convinces them to let him join them as their new partner. Hearing a radio broadcast regarding Papa Joe's son, Concezio Yakavetta (Judd Nelson), they deduce that he must have hired the hit-man who killed the priest in order to draw them out of hiding.
Meanwhile, Detectives Greenly, Dolly, and Duffy (Bob Marley, David Ferry and Brian Mahoney) are at the scene of the priest's murder. They are greeted by Special Agent Eunice Bloom (Julie Benz), the protege of Paul Smecker (who has "died") who has been assigned to investigate the murder and determine whether or not the Saints are responsible. She comes to the conclusion that it was not the Saints who murdered the cleric and begins an investigation to find the real assassin. She and the other officers find out the assassin is Ottilio Panza (Daniel DeSanto), a man who appears to be working for a mysterious man known as "The Old Man" (Peter Fonda).
Connor, Murphy, and Romeo hit a warehouse that is being used by an Asian gang to process heroin for Yakavetta. After killing everyone at the warehouse, Connor and Murphy reunite with their old bartender friend, Doc (Gerard Parkes). They learn that the assassin was an independent contractor and that Yakavetta himself is hiding in the Prudential Tower. Later at the warehouse, now a crime scene, Bloom confirms that the Saints have returned.
The brothers and Romeo have one of Yakavetta's underbosses named Gorgeous George (Bob Rubin) set up a meeting with a group of mobsters at a bar, where they kill them. Panza arrives shortly after and attempts to ambush the brothers, but Bloom arrives in time to save them by wounding Panza who flees. Bloom introduces herself, revealing her intentions to help the Saints in Smecker's place. The group then cleans up the crime scene to make it look as if the mobsters had turned on each other. Later, Bloom reunites the other detectives with the Saints, thus bringing them in on their plans.
Yakavetta calls a meeting with his crew, during which the Saints arrive and kill everyone including Yakavetta. Bloom interrogates Yakavetta's right-hand man and learning of the Old Man’s involvement with Panza. The crime scene is visited by FBI Special Agent Kuntsler (Paul Johansson) who takes over the gang murder case upon suspending Bloom. Later at the bar, Greenly arrives to celebrate the boys' victory and is unexpectedly shot and killed by Panza. Noah, earlier having decided to help his sons, unexpectedly arrives to demand Panza tell him The Old Man's location. They engage in a type of "Russian roulette" stand-off, and after Panza still refuses to answer, Noah kills him.
Noah reveals to the group that in 1958 New York, he watched a trio of mobsters brutally murder his father in front of his eyes. Consumed with anger and wanting revenge, Noah killed the mobsters with the help of his best friend Louie, who is revealed to be the Old Man. Noah still felt unsatisfied, so Louie helped him pick out mobsters to kill. They continued this until 1975, when Louie gave Noah up to the police.
Bloom illegally obtains a file regarding Louie's location in York, Maine and gives it to Noah. Louie, anticipating the Saints arrival at his mansion, has several hit-men stationed on the grounds. When the MacManus family arrives, Louie reveals that he had only used Noah to eliminate the competition in the Mafia, afterwards giving him up to the police when he was no longer useful. After this however, the Mafia cast Louie himself out for the very same reason. He then helped rebuild the Yakavetta family after Papa Joe's demise, and let the Saints take out the rest of the organization so Louie could take control. Louie signals the hit-men waiting to take out the Saints to make their move, but the Saints kill them all. Noah suffers a fatal gunshot wound and before he dies, he kills Louie. The police arrive and arrest the wounded Connor, Murphy, and Romeo.
Bloom meets with Uncle Sibeal who has arranged to take her to a safe place out of the country to flee FBI prosecution. She is shocked to discover that Sibeal has been working with Smecker (Willem Dafoe) who is still alive having faked his death and developed a network of support for the Saints and their work. Smecker tells Bloom his plans to break the Saints out of prison.
As protesters outside of the prison shout for the freedom of the Saints, Connor and Murphy stare out of their window at the sea of prisoners in the yard, finding that they'll have plenty of work while they wait to be freed.
After years in development hell,[3] the success of the first film's DVD release spurred 20th Century Fox to finance a sequel.[4] In March 2008, Troy Duffy confirmed the film was greenlit.[5] Pre-production on the film started in early September 2008.[6] Principal photography took place in Ontario from October 20, 2008 to December 10, 2008.[7]
Duffy kept a video diary of the film's progress on YouTube, with some of the shooting sequences, and "question and answer" segments from fans answered by the film's stars.[8]
The film's first trailer was officially released online on September 2, 2009 via IGN.[9][10] The film was initially released in 67 theaters in the Northeastern and Western areas of the continental US,[11] and was gradually released into more theaters in the following weeks. [3][12]
The film has received generally negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film only received a 23%, which was still higher than the original films rating of 19%.[13] The film received better audience reviews, but not to the extent of the first film (62% compared to 93%).
On March 9, 2010 the film was released on single disc DVD and 2-Disc Steelbook Special Edition DVD as well as Blu-ray with special features including deleted scenes, audio commentary, and a behind the scenes featurette.[14]
The soundtrack became available for pre-order in late March on the official Boondock Saints Store website and became available for purchase and digital download at other retailers April 7, 2010.
| No. | Title | Artist | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ireland Intro" | Jeff Danna | 0:42 |
| 2. | "Line of Blood" | Ty Stone | 3:49 |
| 3. | "B.O.S.M" | The Dirges | 2:08 |
| 4. | "Plastic Jesus" | Taylor Duffy | 4:27 |
| 5. | "Eclipse" | Radiant-X | 0:57 |
| 6. | "Balls Deep" | Sean C | 3:42 |
| 7. | "Better Days" | The Dirges | 4:05 |
| 8. | "Requiem Massive" | Radiant-X | 2:02 |
| 9. | "Real Thang" | Ty Stone | 3:10 |
| 10. | "Holiday" | The Dirges | 3:03 |
| 11. | "The Wreckoning" | Radiant-X | 2:14 |
| 12. | "Holy Fool" | The Boondock Saints | 4:16 |
| 13. | "The Saints Are Coming" | The Dirges | 2:51 |
| 14. | "Saints From The Streets" | Jeff Danna | 2:56 |
| 15. | "Crew Cut vs. Poppa M" | Jeff Danna | 1:48 |
| 16. | "Young Noah" | Jeff Danna | 1:55 |
| 17. | "Ireland" | Jeff Danna | 2:22 |
| 18. | "Noah's Vendetta" | Jeff Danna | 1:36 |
| 19. | "Fake-bake Shake" | Jeff Danna | 1:40 |
| 20. | "Skyscraper Assault" | Jeff Danna | 3:02 |
| 21. | "The Last Gun Battle" | Jeff Danna | 1:55 |
| 22. | "Get Them Out" | Jeff Danna | 2:04 |
| 23. | "Blood Of Cu Chulainn 2010" | Jeff Danna & Mychael Danna | 4:06 |
A six-issue comic book series, made up of 3 2-issue chapters written by Troy Duffy and published by 12 Gauge Comics, was released in May 2010 as a companion to the movie.[15] The story is a more in-depth version of Il Duce's backstory together with the story of a hit the brothers performed that does not appear in the film.
There was also a mini-book available from the official Boondock Saints website which told a story that took place prior to the strip club scene from the first film. Both will eventually be released in a single graphic novel.[2]
Director Troy Duffy spoke about a potential sequel in an interview on June 13th, 2011. He said that "We’ve been approached to do a possible Boondock Saints TV series. So the fans may be getting a part 3 as a television show. We might be able to pull that off….I actually called both Sean and Norman and they both said “hell yeah, we’ll drop everything.” [16]