A great Action Thriller Vigilante movie that is set in Boston, it was filmed in Boston, and is set in a realistic action movie universe.
It is a very well made Action Thriller Vigilante movie that shows off the location that is Boston,2 distinguishable fleshed-out charismatic protagonists with an understandable motive for an achievable goal, practical effects including the blood, unique good action scenes, good dialogue, memorable lines, terrifying antagonists that also have believable motives for goals, high stakes, a main conflict that doesn’t have an easy solution, other distinguishable protagonists, thrilling climax, soundtrack songs that fit the scenes, and a very memorable open ending.
Also with the protagonists having the number advantages it’s unsurprising that they defeat 3 Heavyweight Russian Mobsters showing a realistic outcome even though not a cakewalk, also protagonists with a number advantage attack at once which I enjoyed instead the very terrible writing cliche a group of characters having the numbers advantage except not all attacking at once.
I did greatly this movie doesn't have the common terrible writing mistake in movies that is a character saying a silencer is attached to the gun when really it’s a suppressor.
It’s a realistic action movie universe because the MacManus Twins and other characters are bound by the laws of physics, suffer the realistic consequences from violence including gunshot wounds result in blood loss that won’t stop without the needed solution, limited amount of bullets instead of ridiculous amount of ammo, and characters won’t quickly heal from damage after a fist fight.
The suspense is high for the Boondock Saints since they are badass Vigilantes bound by the laws of physics and realistic human morality in this Action Thriller movie.
The MacManus Twins killing Russian Mobsters in self-defense shows a realistic situation where a violent solution is justified.
The Irish Catholic Twins aka the MacManus Twins are distinguishable characters including different hairstyles, and they have common Irish names that are Murphy and Connor.
The movie provides a believable reason why the MacManus Twins decide to become badass Vigilantes who are going to murder evil men mostly the Russian Mobsters and Italian Mobsters that are operating in Boston.
The MacManus Twins known as The Boondock Saints are antiheroes since they’ve murdered Russian Mobsters, and Italian Mobsters to accomplish their good goal of eliminating the Criminal Underworld that occupies Boston.
They are breaking laws as Vigilantes, also they know as Catholics they are violating the commandment to not murder since they are murdering Russian Mobsters and Italian Mobsters that operate in Boston to achieve their good objective.
The Boondock Saints are using messy methods to achieve their good goal which would benefit vast Bostonians if they succeeded in murdering the Russian Mobsters and Italian Mobsters that operate in Boston.
It makes them similar to The Punisher, Paul Kersey of the Death Wish movie series, etc.
This movie succeeds with the comedy mostly with the comic relief Doc McGinity that is the owner of the Irish-themed pub, he misquotes commonly known sayings, can’t control the cursing, and does boxing punches behind the safe area of the bar while watching the customers fight 3 Russian Mobsters was very priceless.
Another priceless comedy scene is the brilliant FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker cussing loudly with a rant for an understood reason while walking before unexpectedly he see’s a very important detail.
The dialogue in this Action Thriller movie fits including bluntness similar to The Departed.
FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker is listening to music on a visible common CD player which isn’t surprising because this movie was released in 1999 when CD Players were still very common items, also very retro seeing him use a thick-style Laptop.
1 scene of a MacManus Twin using a pay phone is very retro because this is the era when pay phones were a dime a dozen in Cities.
Also, it was cool to see that this is the era when a pager was an item that humans had.
Although it’s never stated directly, it most likely Connor wanted to use a rope to smoothly move down before he and his twin brother begin shooting the Russian Mobsters.
Connor was possibly inspired by the action vigilante movie (1989) The Punisher because the Punisher used a rope to safely move down on a casino table before he began killing Yakuza members, also damaging the Yakuza-owned Casino which he damaged by shooting his M60 Machine Gun, also launching grenades from the same gun.
It's surprising that Die Hard isn’t talked about by The Boondock Saints when they are moving in the narrow area that is the air duct area much like John in Die Hard.
The action scene of the BoonDock Saints killing Russian Mobsters is a very badass memorable violent action scene, and it’s not tedious or uncreative in another action scene when the BoonDock Saints kill Italian Mobsters because it's in a different location, and other visible differences.
The Boondock Saints are distinguishable vigilantes that have memorable outfits which are also very practical because of the advantage of easy mobility.
A huge plot hole is avoided since FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker states to a shown character why he doesn’t want to prosecute the Vigilantes that are murdering evil characters that are Russian Mobsters and Italian Mobsters.
Because of good writing by Troy Duffy, the explanation fits naturally in a scene instead of being shoehorned in as an explanation for the scene.
A style that greatly sets this apart is the details on the screen for the name of a character, and occupation.
While that’s common with a text shown on screen for location, or how much time later after some shown scene except for names of characters and occupations isn’t a common movie cliche
It is a very cool scene when the MacManus Twins are shown getting their weapons, and the hunting knife that John Rambo uses is shown.
An implication is 1 MacManus twin saw Rambo First Blood because he recognized it as the same badass Hunting Knife that John Rambo uses.
Possibly Troy Duffy the Director-ScreenWriter felt inspired by the Action Vigilante movies Death Wish, and (1989) The Punisher because The BoonDock Saints is a Rated R Action Vigilante movie because it shows the messy violence, and shows the aftermath of the messy vigilante violence because those are key aspects of the Action Vigilante genre.
Downtown Boston does get shown off at the start of the movie, and multiple other locations are shown.
So it is similar to the great movie The Fugitive which showed off Chicago with multiple locations of that Midwest Metropolis.
The Climax is suspenseful, high stakes, very dramatic, and extremely memorable.
Troy Duffy like James Cameron aimed to be responsible for directing and writing an action movie so it’ll be well made for The Boondock Saints, and he hits a home run because The Boondock Saints is an impressive badass well-made Action Thriller Vigilante movie that stands out from other Action Vigilante movies including the MacManus Twins are from this movie not from a comic book, or some other fictional media.
2 small Nitpicks
The whole criticism that Angels don’t kill is wrong because 2 Kings 19:35 talks about an Angel of the Lord that killed a vast amount of people stated as 185,000 in the Camp area of the Assyrians.
A character saying the criticism that the BoonDock Saints are acting as Judge and Jury isn’t wrong except forgot Executioner because same as The Punisher the BoonDock Saints are Vigilantes doing exactly that.