What makes it different from others?

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Seeing the Guard was on Film 4 I decided to watch it for the second time. The first time I saw it, it was on TV and I had half a mind to switch it off because of the swearing in it from the beginning, but the subtle humour and the story was so good, I watched it to the end. I like the ironic humour in it. The drug smuggling gang discussing philosophy in the car. The IRA man querying the loss of the Kalashnikov and then it turns up later for the FBi man to use. Why the IRA use the little hand guns to attract MI5 agents. His mum waiting to confess to being in a orgy. The couple who only speak gaelic to the FBi agent and others who are so unhelpful, he eventually tries talking to a horse. And the main character, Boyle, a loose cannon, a maverick, but he gets the gang. This is a brilliantly scripted film with a great narrative and the tremendous scenery of the west of Ireland. There are so many memorable scenes in it. The little boy who finds the cache of weapons in a peat bog and tries to pocket a small hand gun. The IRA man who turns up in a VW beetle and goes to open the engine to put the cache of weapons in. The best and most unexpected bit is when Boyle seems to be at the mercy of the philosophical psychopath and has the small hand gun where he has been told "gay" IRA men put them when they go to meet MI5 agents... you need to watch the film to find out what happens next and the best thing about this film is, you are never quite sure what will happen next. film to find out what happens next...

I like this kind of humour, but the movie doesn't pull it off.Gleeson is good as the lead character - a man who reflects on life in his own way and says what he sees without concern for what others think. He's also a loner, but with emotional ties that come out in various relationships - although without much depth.The rest is put together quite loosely even though the plot is straightforward. The dead cop's wife was a mystery - there was some emotional connection with the lead character, but it just trailed off. I was thinking she might be part of the gang, but ... nothing, so there was no plot reason for her presence.Also it's a short movie but there's stuff that could have been cut, and scenes that didn't need so many actors.A lot of the scenes are artless, so they have to be carried by the humour. I got a few laughs, but there was something in the pace and the lack of layering of the story that made those laughs isolated.I know the story is tongue in cheek, but more emotion might have brought the laughs together.

Let me begin by saying if you are easily offended - this movie is not for you. Secondly, the first 20 minutes are a little painful as they setup Boyle's character. The movie is great and comes together really well by the end. If you're having a night in, pour yourself a tall glass of milk and grab a few brownies. This wont disappoint and its nice to see the likable, non- Hollywood (bulging arms, 6-pack, model face) protagonist ... no spoilers here :)The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any. –Alice Walker

Directed and written by John Michael McDonagh, The Guard features unorthodox Irish small-town police Sergeant Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) doing battle with a learned crew of drug-runners with the help of bemused FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle).It takes a bit of concentration on the accents if you're not from the west of Ireland and the humour is a bit blunt at times. But as long as you don't take offence should you happen to be black, gay, American, English or from Dublin, you should enjoy this. You'll also need to be OK with a lot, and I mean a lot, of swearing, and a moderate number of shootings.I laughed out loud a few times particularly when Boyle says to Wendell 'these men are armed and dangerous, and you being an FBI agent you're more used to shooting at unarmed women and children'... Also, when Boyle suggests Wendell 'probably hadn't had this much fun since they burned all those kids up in Waco'.