Summary

THE GUARD is a comedic, fish out of water tale of murder, blackmail, drug trafficking and rural police corruption, and the two cops who must join forces to take on an international drug-smuggling gang, an unorthodox Irish policeman and a straitlaced F.B.I.agent. Cynical and crass, Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson) is an eccentric small-town cop with a confrontational personality and a subversive sense of humor. A longtime policeman in County Galway, Boyle is a bit of a maverick with his own moral code, not always above the law but certainly with its own high standards. He has seen enough of the world to know there isn’t much to it and has had plenty of time to think about it. Boyle takes nothing and no one seriously, but when a fellow police officer disappears and the small town Boyle patrols becomes an important location in the greater scheme of things, he is forced to at least feign interest when dealing with the humorless F.B.I. agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) assigned to the case. Left to run his territory to his liking for many years, he is not at all impressed when the F.B.I. comes to town. Agent Everett has led an American life of privilege, complete with the highest levels of formal education. Consumed with his pursuit of justice, Everett has no interest in Connemara other than as a backdrop to solve the case. He underestimates the townspeople, especially Sergeant Boyle. Everett looks down on Boyle as a provincial low level cop with a limited view of the world who doesn’t take anything seriously. Boyle doesn’t have any higher appreciation for Everett, who he sees as a by the book cop with a chip on his shoulder and no understanding of how the real world runs. However, despite the fact that Boyle seems more interested in mocking and undermining Everett than in actively working to solve the case, Boyle finds that circumstances keep pulling him back into the thick of it. First his tiresomely enthusiastic new partner disappears, then his favorite hooker attempts to blackmail him into turning a blind eye, and finally the drug-traffickers themselves try to buy him off as they have every other member of the local police force. These events unwittingly offend Boyle's murky moral code. He realizes that he needs to take matters into his own hands, and the only person he can trust is Everett. And so the scene is set for an unlikely friendship and explosive finale. THE GUARD stars Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan, Dominique McElligott, Sarah Greene and Katarina Cas. Shot by Larry Smith against the epic grandeur of Ireland, the scenery juxtaposes with the inventive soundtrack from Americana/alternative country band Calexico. Written by John Michael McDonagh (Ned Kelly), THE GUARD marks McDonagh’s feature directorial debut. The film is produced by Chris Clark, Flora Fernandez Marengo, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe; Executive produced by Martin McDonagh, Don Cheadle, Lenore Zerman, Ralph Kamp, Tim Smith, Paul Brett, David Nash.