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Like me, director Werner Herzog has never seen the original BAD LIEUTENANT, starring Harvey Keitel and directed by Abel Ferrara. So he took this project on as an original. That’s of course how I had to go into watching it. It seems like the perfect project for Herzog, following a larger than life character with an obsession.

This character is Terence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage, LEAVING LAS VEGAS), a police detective in New Orleans. Before the waters have receded he and his partner Stevie Pruit (Val Kilmer, TOMBSTONE) stumble upon a prisoner still locked away in a cell as the water rises. The detectives contemplate leaving him to die (Terence doesn’t want to ruin his expensive underwear), but he decides to jump in anyway. In the process he injuries his back severely and will suffer pain the rest of his life.
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Coming from Guy Ritchie, the director of LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS, it’s not surprising that this Sherlock Holmes is a more physical chap. But what is surprising is how it is handled. While this film has a contemporary vibe, it stays true to the spirit of the famed character. He is a detective and a skeptic and those qualities drive him and this film.

To start Holmes (Robert Downey Jr., IRON MAN) and his partner Dr. John Watson (Jude Law, A.I.) are on a desperate chase to stop Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong, STARDUST) from committing another ritual murder. Blackwood is caught and sentenced to hang. On the night of his execution he warns Holmes that he will be back to kill again. Soon ritual murders begin again and Blackwood’s tomb is broken out of from the inside. As London descends into a panic over the supernatural, Holmes is determined to discover the Earthly truth behind the mystery.

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Roger Ebert said it best, “BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY is an idiotic ode to macho horseshite.” The original was an entertaining edition to the stylistic actioners of the late ’90s such as EL MARIACHI and John Woo’s flicks. The film did poorly in a very small release, but gained cult status on DVD. Director Troy Duffy’s quick rise to a production deal at Miramax was unflatteringly captured in the doc OVERNIGHT from his former friends Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith. He comes off as a drunken egotist. Kind of explains this film.

Following the events of the first film, Conner, Murphy and Noah MacManus (Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus and Billy Connolly, respectively) fled to Ireland to hide out. Good idea after being part of bloody massacres. Then a priest is murdered in Boston in the style of the MacManuses. So the brothers Conner and Murphy head back to the States to see what’s up. On their way they meet Mexican fighter Romeo (Clifton Collins Jr., CAPOTE) who recognizes them as the infamous Saints and is desperate to be their new partner. They become convinced that the son of their target in the first film, Concezio Yakavetta (Judd Nelson, BREAKFAST CLUB), is behind the killing as a way to lure them out.
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