In Bruges (18)

Ray and Ken are two Irish hitmen sent into temporary exile in Bruges after a job in London goes wrong. Affable Ken (the always watchable Brendan Gleeson) sees the enforced mini-break as a chance to see the sights; sour Ray (Colin Farrell) simply hates the place on sight.

Farrell is an actor who needs to be approached with care. When he's good, as in Miami Vice, he's very good, but when he's bad, as in Alexander, it's best to clear the area and call 999, Actor Squad. At first, his character comes across as all sharp elbows and dull thoughts, a thug with apparently no redeeming qualities. And that's before we learn the true story of what happened in London.

Slowly, like the film in general, Ray begins to intrigue and amuse. Once writer-director McDonagh gets his game on, he shapes the tale into an audacious, funny, extremely dark and very violent caper. One of the film's many surprises is the casting of Ralph Fiennes as an Essex mob boss and all-round psycho. Fiennes, a gent simply born to play posh, slums it like a good 'un. At the centre of the mayhem, exerting his usual calming and classy influence, is Gleeson, that BFG of the Irish acting fraternity.

McDonagh goes over the top with the ending, turning the Unesco World Heritage Site into the wild, wild west, but overall In Bruges is a cleverly crafted blast of a movie from a writer clearly thrilled to be playing on the bigger stage of a film set. On the evidence of this, long may he continue.

The trick to making a really successful black comedy is to be absolutely unflinching; there is no such thing as a taboo subject.

This marvellously entertaining, grown-up film takes a tired format and brings fresh life into it by being utterly fearless.

It’s all here. There are dead kids, murdered clergy, sex, drugs, dwarves, midgets as well as a whole bucket load of political incorrectness. The result is just terrific.

Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are a couple of hitmen who are lying low in Belgium after pulling off a contract killing.

Farrell hates Bruges, its quietness and sheer unremitting tedium. Gleeson, on the other hand enjoys the peace and quiet and takes to the role of tourist with a vengeance.

They bicker and squabble like an odd couple while awaiting orders from employer Ralph Fiennes. When orders come, however, it’s obvious the original job has gone wrong, and now one of the hitmen has to kill the other.

The plot is simply the set up for two glorious performances from Farrell and Gleeson – Farrell’s turn the more surprising of the two, because we knew Gleeson could act.

Farrell is fearless here. He puts his screen image on the line and gives it a thorough kicking, which just about puts him back in credit after the awful Miami Vice. He manages to be obnoxious and touching almost in the same sentence, while Gleeson cuts a suitably tragic figure.

For me, the weak link in the film is Ralph Fiennes, whose performance seems to be too close to Ben Kinglsey in Sexy Beast to be entirely comfortable.

Even so, In Bruges is a film that delivers an awful lot more than it promises, and is well worth the effort of seeking it out.