The MacManus brothers (Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus) are with their father (Billy Connolly) in an isolated farm in Ireland. A priest in Boston has been killed in a church using their style. The brothers dig up their other life and return to Boston to avenge the killing. FBI SPECIAL Agent Eunice Bloom (Julie Benz) takes over the investigation from the incompetent local cops. On the freighter to America, the brothers are joined by Mexican fighter Romeo (Clifton Collins Jr.). Concezio Yakavetta (Judd Nelson) has taken over the gang after his father's killing by the MacManus.

The over-stylized mannerisms are interesting for a little while. However it becomes more of a distraction. It's not compelling enough to be interesting. It's not cool enough to be good. Julie Benz's accent gets a bit annoying. Billy Connolly only has a short cameo and the boys don't have his charisma. Everything is a little bit annoying like Judd Nelson and the movie is a messy mix.

The haters for this film really do seem to hate it. I saw the original a couple years ago so my memory of it is a bit fuzzy, but I did like it. I thought this was a pretty decent sequel even if it took ten years to get around to it. Clifton Collins Jr. as the new partner for the McManus Brothers came on a bit over the top but I liked the humor he provided in the story. I wasn't as crazy about Special Agent Eunice Bloom (Julie Benz),she came on as a very smarmy character and too confident in approaching the three detectives who were allies of the McManus family. And Judd Nelson as a mob boss? That took some getting used to, and by the end of the picture, I still wasn't used to the idea, but he won't be showing up again.

But even with the reservations cited above, I was able to get into this story of set-ups and revenge, and when the Brothers suggest "Let's do some gratuitous violence", the stylized gun play lends itself to a visceral guilty pleasure. Poppa McManus's (Billy Connolly) history told in flashback adds perspective on the rivalry against his former partner, now known as The Roman, in a tale twisted by greed and betrayal. It never occurred to me that it was Peter Fonda in the role of The Roman, although with some reflection on it now, I can see the resemblance to the young actor from "Easy Rider". Holy smokes, that was fifty years ago!

The closing scene definitely suggests a Part Three, so since it's almost ten years since this one came out, maybe there's a Boondocks III around the corner. It would be cool to see these characters show up again.

Let's do some gratuitous violence.

Soldiers of the Son of God, "Jesus freaks", the underground celebrated Saints, Conner and Murphy MacManus(Sean Patrick Flanery & Norman Reedus),return to their old hunting grounds of Boston to take down the ones responsible for the murder of a priest. They are framed for this murder as the hit man behind the crime attempted to set it up as an orchestrated crime scene the Saints would commit. Conner and Murphy attain a new partner in Latino dish washer Romeo(Clifton Collins Jr),who so desperately wants to fit in and become part of their team. What results is a massacre as the trio obliterate an entire Italian mob, led by a mysterious "Old Man" called "The Roman" and the one he has in charge, Concezio Yakavetta(Judd Nelson). Julie Benz(toying with a terrible Texan accent)is Special Agent Eunice, head over the priest's case, and, subsequently, secretly an ally of the Brothers MacManus, helping them along the way which lands her eventually in hot water. Billy Connolly returns as Poppa MacManus, and we are privy to flashbacks when he was a young man, seeing that his father was killed, understanding how he would become such a notorious killer and learning of a brother who betrayed him. Detectives Greenly, Duffy, and Dolly(Bob Marley, Brian Mahoney, & David Ferry )are worried that Eunice will uncover the fact that they are aligned with the MacManus brothers. As expected, THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II has plenty of shootouts and slow motion body damage as mob goons fall in alarming numbers. We are supposed to accept the idea that three people(well Benz gets in on the fun, too, even donning a cowgirl outfit at one point)can annihilate an entire mob family. That's the fun of it, really, seeing so few kill so many. THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II is more comedy than anything else, satirizing the mob movie, poking fun at the stereotypes. Willem Dafoe and Peter Fonda appear in small roles.