‘The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day’ Trailer Has Debuted And… ‘Meh’

In my video blog last month, I re-capped a description of the trailer debut of The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, which took place at their Comic-Con panel. The reaction of the crowd was ridiculously positive, albeit because those in attendance were die hard Boondock fans who drove thousands of miles to see the trailer. This film is a sequel that is a decade in the making. The Boondock Saints was released in 1999 in select theaters, but didn’t make it’s cult impact until it went on DVD and created a very passionate fan base. The trailer debuted on IGN today, and to tell you the truth, I’m not that impressed.

The sequel brings back all the major players from the first film. Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus return as the  McManus brothers who carry out brutal biblical vigilante justice. Billy Connolly returns as their formally imprisoned father who joins their team. The undisputed stand out of the first film, David Della Rocco, returns as ‘Funny Man’ Rocco. There are a few new members joining the team that can’t do anything but add quality. The awesome and underutilized Clifton Collins Jr. (Babel, Star Trek) comes aboard as the psycho killer Romeo. The beautiful and talented Julie Benz takes a break from playing Rita on Dexter to play a character that seems to be the love interest for one of the McManus brothers, as well as a badass killer to boot. Judd Nelson finally gets some screen time as the apparent villain. And the great Peter Fonda joins the cast as some sort of mob boss.

So the trailer looks okay. I mean, it’s 10 years later and Flanery and Reedus have visibly aged, which is fine, but is unfortunately noticeable for an action film. The style, pace and action look IDENTICAL to BS1. The McManus brothers wear black over coats, blue jeans, leather gloves and 9mm silencers. They pop out of boxes and blow away bad guys in the classic slow-motion, 360 degree camera movement. It’s literally a spitting image of the first film, which isn’t bad, it’s just not very exciting. Let’s put it this way, The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day opens in the U.S. on November 1st. If there are any midnight showings at my local theaters, I’ll probably wait for the matinee the following Monday.

Check out the trailer below.

What Do You Think? Discuss.