What it lacks in subtlety it makes up for in stereotypes ...

The Guard tells the story of Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson), a Sergeant of the Irish Police, who joins forces with a fish-out-of-water FBI agent (Don Cheadle) when a murder victim is connected to a group of drug traffickers.

The film is set in Gaelic-speaking Connemara in Galway, and some of the best moments of comedy come as Don Cheadle wanders around the overcast town in an attempt to get help from the locals, and is confronted with either silence or Gaelic. This kind of comedy is one of the films greatest strengths, playing on both the stubbornness and mistrust of foreigners shown by the locals, and on Cheadle’s complete ignorance of his surroundings.

Writer/director John Michael McDonagh was, in fact, born and raised in England by Irish parents, but the filmmaker shows his roots here. McDonagh knows his setting well and presents it beautifully, showing off the bleak, grey Irish coast with wonderful camera work. As a piece of art, this film works well, and there are some great contrasts between the beauty of the natural environment of coastal Ireland and the sixties-style interiors of the small town.

Brendan Gleeson is great as Sergeant Boyle, who somehow comes across as loveable and awful at the same time. The film hinges on Gleeson’s portrayal, and the realness of the character is what makes it work. Gleeson delivers well written one-liners perfectly, particularly in the ‘curl up and die’ moment when he airs his astonishment at the pictures of the three white drug traffickers, stating: "I thought only black lads were drug dealers. And Mexicans."

Sergeant Boyle’s relationship with his ailing mother provides a break from the never-ending one liners and allows us to see the soft side of the character. The few scenes between Gleeson and Fionnula Flanagan are some of the film’s best, and the poignant sadness of these parts provides a needed contrast in both the film and its main character.

Mark Strong is brilliant and genuinely chilling as an intelligent, slightly unhinged drug trafficker, and it is a shame that we don’t see more of him during the film. His fellow traffickers (Liam Cunningham and David Wilmot) also put in stellar performances and provide some of the funniest moments in the film (watch out for the scene where the three drive towards a drug drop off arguing over Dylan Thomas and their favourite philosophy quotes).

These performances are, in my opinion, all overshadowed by Don Cheadle, who is understated and extremely funny throughout. Cheadle and Strong are the eyes of the non-Irish audience for this film, and manage to instil a feeling of affection and bafflement through their performances.

This film has barely seen a bad review, and I’m not going to write one now. The Guard was well-written and good fun, with some touching moments and great characters. Having said this, it wasn’t as brilliant as I had hoped. So what was wrong with it?

The main problem I had with The Guard was that it sometimes felt like it relied on a series of overused stereotypes about various nationalities; the racist, whiskey-drinking Irish, the arrogant, ignorant American and the pompous, chilly Brit. It’s not that I can’t ever see the amusement of playing on international stereotypes, but as the quality of writing in the film was often excellent, these occasionally obvious and offensive stereotypical jokes felt like an easy option for a writer who could clearly do better. The film has been enormously successful in Ireland, and I was a little surprised that the Irish weren’t more irritated by the impression that was given of their country.

Another unavoidable but unfortunate problem for the film was that some of it became lost in translation. The Irish accent, although fabulous to listen to, is extremely heavy at points in the film, and I was left unsure as to how many clever jokes I had missed through a lack of understanding!

The Guard was an enjoyable, well made film with some laugh out loud moments and outstanding acting throughout, and I would have no problem watching it again. Having said that, while I thought The Guard was a good film, I’m not sure it was a great film, and after reading sparkling review after sparkling review, I was left feeling a little disappointed. Based on this, I would suggest that The Guard is best viewed with a completely open mind, as inflated expectations should not take away from a solid, satisfying film with a smashing ending which is certainly worth seeing for Cheadle and Gleeson’s performances alone.

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