Gallery: The Guard

Sgt. Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) abuses suspects, makes casually racist slurs, and confronts his superiors on a daily basis. When someone calls him an “unconventional police officer” early in John Michael McDonagh’s sharp-tongued black comedy, The Guard, it might be the understatement of the year. Boyle even answers his office phone by saying, “Last of the independents.” Similar to other unorthodox heroes in the cop film genre, Boyle’s outward sarcasm and spite are defense mechanisms against years of indifference and corruption. The environment is broken, not the man himself, and Boyle’s vices merely mask the judicial lawman waiting for the opportunity to once again do the right thing.

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