Excellent adaptation.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

"A great day this has turned out to be. I'm suicidal, me mate tries to kill me, me gun gets nicked and we're still in f-ing Bruges!!!!"Colin Farrell plays Ray, a young Irish hit man who botched his first job and ended up shooting an innocent young boy. He and his partner, the older, more seasoned Ken (Brendan Gleeson), are packed out of London by their overbearing crime boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes, almost unrecognizable with cockney accent and perpetual sneer) to the quiet Belgian tourist town of Bruges. They are to stay in Bruges until they receive further orders from Harry. They are urged to enjoy their time in the city, which Harry remembers from his childhood as being "like a f-ing fairy tale or something."This hilarious, moody, very violent film by writer-director Martin McDonagh is incredibly difficult to characterize. Is it a comedy? An action/heist flick? A downer drama? Hard to say. Whatever it is, it blends elements of all these genres brilliantly, features excellent comic performances by the three leads, and even while you're cracking up, you may find yourself pondering larger questions of death, morality, and purpose-why we are where we are, both physically and spiritually.This is a unique, and uniquely enjoyable film that, with humor, examines the conscience and the part it plays in our lives, our deaths, and, perhaps most poignantly, whatever comes in between. A word of warning: you must have a fairly high toleration for disturbing violence and extremely thick Irish accents.

This is a great film. The characters are brilliantly acted and written. Even the characters with little screen time have so much subtleties and mannerisms that I loved. Martin McDonoughs first feature film, and a great one at that. It will have you thinking about it days after you finish it.If you mostly watch big budget action movies. (which is fine there's no shame in it), and you haven't seen many other types of movies, I would highly recommend you see this, or if you just love film in general check it out on YouTube... someone literally uploaded the entire thing. Just watch it now, what your doing isn't more important. Ya dickhead

What drove me to seeing 'In Bruges' in the first place was primarily great actors like Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes, and also for the concept and Bruges itself. 'In Bruges' is definitely not for all tastes, one can say that for a lot of films but 'In Bruges' is one of the more extreme examples. It is very foul mouthed with an extreme profanity laden script, is very uncompromisingly violent and its political incorrectness will put the easily offended and the faint hearted off. Three reasons not to see it if all this bothers you. It didn't bother me much though (having seen plenty of films with those approaches that still manage to be great). Neither did on the most part the ridiculousness that 'In Bruges' has been criticised for.What is meant by "on the most part"? 'In Bruges' weakest element, from a storytelling standpoint and for the film in general, is the ending. This to me was the only part of the film that went over the top on the ridiculousness to overblown proportions, and it just felt contrived and running out of ideas in feel. Carter Burwell's music score is a well written and quite lovely one on its own. Within the film and its mood though, it didn't fit however and juxtaposes too much in terms of tone.However, the performances are very good, excellent in the case of Gleeson (as always) and Fiennes having tons of fun as his sinister character. Wasn't expecting acting this good from Farrell, this is the best he's ever been and he is successful in providing an interesting character that was intended to be morally complex and not likeable. It's the relationship between Farrell and Gleeson that drives the story and drama, it was essential to the film's success and manages to be entertaining, affecting and thought-provoking,Photography is both gritty and beautiful, with a clear sense of style and atmosphere. Bruges not just looks wonderful, it also is treated like a character of its own quite rightly.Similarly successful is the script, which is surprisingly intelligent with a strong balance with thought-provoking philosophical musings, very funny black comedy and character moral complexity (not making the characters likeable but it was clear early on that the intent was for them never to be so) . The story absorbs and entertains, with the brutal holds no prisoners violence not feeling gratuitous, the central relationship being beautifully written and the despair and redemptions themes being surprisingly poignant.Overall, very good if understandably polarising. 8/10 Bethany Cox

In Bruges is the story of two British hitmen lying low in Bruges, Belgium after an assassination goes wrong. This movie is a perfect balance of comedy and depression. Martin Mcdonough seamlessly transitions from heavy subjects like child murder, and suicide, to goofs and gags and fat Americans. Several scenes are simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious. There is also a masterful handling of reincorporation that is quite reminiscent of Hot Fuzz. There were several scenes in this movie that seemed to just be one-off jokes, but eventually affected the plot and characters in profound ways later on. The characters were all very distinct and fleshed out, and it's been a long time since I genuinely cared about fictional people so much. The plot is absolutely one hundred percent pitch perfect. It is meticulously balanced on the scale of unpredictability and poetic beauty. On the far left of this scale lies something like Game of Thrones, where main characters are killed left and right with no satisfying conclusion to their arch. On the far right is Star Wars, where the story is neat and satisfying, but anyone who has seen a movie in their life knows exactly what will happen ten minutes in. In Bruges is somehow far left and far right at the same time. The plot twists and turns in unexpected ways, and it doesn't stop until the very end. Yet, in the midst of this untidy anarchistic plot, a clear lesson and meaning still arises.