The Guard: A Review

Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, Fionnula Flanagan, Mark Strong.


A hilarious Connemara western (surely a first) propelled by an inspired Gleeson.


Sergeant Boyle (Gleeson) is less concerned with the rigours of P.C than he is about

having a laugh. However, the arrival of Cheadle’s humourless Wendell (an F.B.I agent

concerned about professional ethic and capturing international drug mules located in

the West) threatens to shake Boyle from his comfortable day job. What follows is

straight out of the annals of the mismatched cop comedies (not to make that sound

like a bad thing).


Let’s run roughshod through my quibbles before we unearth all that is good. At times

(although the backdrop of Connemara makes for an effective supporting character)

production quality is revealed as thin. Additionally, I questioned the wisdom of

portraying a Croatian character as a visa-grabber (is this not an overwrought

stereotype ruling the waking prejudices of so many in Ireland?). Finally, repeated

reference to Russian philosophers bears some conceit I suspect.


The film draws influences from Tarantino (the-out-of-the-trunk shot in the scene

with Pat Shortt’s character is Quentin through and through) and, apparently, from

the younger Mc Donagh sibling. Crucially, to anchor the wayward Sergeant Boyle, the

director takes time to craft two worthwile relationships- Boyle and his mother (an

effective Flanagan) and Boyle and Wendell. Wendell, then, isn’t strictly

straight-laced foil. His greatest draw to Boyle (aside from trying to decipher the

Sergeant’s intelligence) concerns an inkling that there’s a shared (although weakly

perceptible) get-to-the-bottom-of-it ethos lurking somewhere.


The film’s best moments are etched in the bewildered faces of those who encounter

Boyle. Mc Donagh, hopefully, will inspire the birth of countless disarming

characters across the island.


Rating: 4/5