Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day: A Reality?

Fans of the film The Boondock Saints collectively call themselves, "The Flock." The Flock has been waiting for nearly a decade for Troy Duffy (writer/director of The Boondock Saints) to say decisively whether or not a sequel to the first movie would be made. For years Duffy claimed the sequel rights were tied up in a law suit and then a few months later he would say they'd been given a deal by a studio to make the film only to claim law suit trouble again a few months later. After several years of this "we're making the film, we're not making the film" garbage, I had all but surrendered hope to see the brothers in action once more.

Then, finally, on Saint Paddy's Day '08 Duffy said the sequel would be made. Still, I was skeptical. I was familiar with Duffy's personality, compliments of the documentary film Overnight (which to Duffy's credit was a bit bias and meant to paint him in a bad light), and hell I don't know the guy; what reason do I have to believe he's not lying just to sell more tee shirts?

Then Summer time hit and another message popped up on the internet claiming Boondock II would begin filming August 20^th. Come to find out, that was the date pre-production started. This was an official message posted on Duffy's site. This discovery gave me even more reason to discredit him. This feeling didn't last too long for me though, thankfully, because Duffy began keeping a video production diary and posting entries on YouTube and Myspace.

Now that we're nearly done with the month of October and Duffy has posted well over thirty videos of pre-production and even shooting, I can finally rest easy and say, "I'm a believer." I'm glad to have this weight/wait off my shoulders because I hate unanswered questions. After seeing all I've seen from the set and all that garbage I think it's safe to say Boondock II will be a good film, even with it's straight to video title.

I'm not one of those whacky fan-boys who feel the first film is a masterpiece and the greatest film ever made, no, no, far from it. The first film is good, but far from great. It has a lot of problems and shortcomings. Problems which, I feel Duffy himself has spotted and will not repeat for a second time. The one problem I am seeing again though is Duffy's big and controlling ego. In some of video posts (how'd they let them slip through?) he's treating people a little less than professionally which is damn near verbatim what was shown in Overnight. This is a concern because to get a second chance like this doesn't happen that often in life, especially in Hollyweird.

All that aside, the whole crew save for Will Dafoe has returned. Duffy has added a couple new characters including another McManus, probably a first cousin of the brothers. The story boards look great and what I've heard of the script and the plot sounds exciting. So if everyone can keep their heads on, this should be a success. Oh and Sean Patrick Flannery looks really old.