Eye Candy #197 - "Boondock Saints II"

Boondock Saints II:  The sequel to the cult hit, 10 years later, with director Troy Duffy stepping back behind the camera.  Vigilante brothers Murphy and Connor MacManus are drawn back to Boston from their self-imposed exile in Ireland after the murder of a priest that copycats their style.   It’s up to the brothers to find out who did it, as the son of a former victim wants his revenge.  Several of the old faces are back again, with a few new ones put in like Clifton Collins Jr. as Romeo (the Rocco equivalent for this film) and Julie Benz as Special Agent Eunice Green, protégé of Willem Dafoe’s Paul Smecker.  This time around we also get Judd Nelson and Peter Fonda as mob heavies out to get the brothers and their father, Il Duce (Billy Connolly, reprising his role), who gets a “Godfather-esque“ back story here, too.  Not as solid as the original, though there are some good lines and bits (plus a continuation of the rope argument from the first film).  The plot seems a little more fantastic than before (there are extended dream sequences involving dead characters, for example), and Romeo‘s character is WAY over the top (amusing, but still over the top).  Benz, while she tries hard, is no replacement for the absolute brilliance of Dafoe’s turn as Smecker (she‘s just not out-and-out weird enough), and I appreciate they take a different tack with her.  Still for fans of the original one, there is enough here to keep you happy.  It ain’t the same as it used to be, but it’ll do.  Woodchuck sez, “Fans of the original, rejoice.”