Pretensions wasn't quite sure what to expect from this film when she picked it up in the video store. It sounded like an arty Pulp Fiction and had Ralph Fiennes in it which was enough for her.

In Bruges is actually the directorial feature debut of Martin McDonagh, the Academy-Award winning Irish playwright and director. It is Pulp Fictionesque only in that it stars two hitmen (irish in this case), portrayed by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson - however it lacks most of the characteristic carnage of a Tarantino film until the last 30minutes.

Ray (Colin Farrell) was new to his job when he messed up and accidentally killed a boy-child. His boss (Ralph Fiennes) sends him to the picturesque Belgian town of Bruges to cool his heels, under the supervision of veteran hitman Ken (Brendan Gleeson). The early part of the story with the uncultured Ray forced to live in the storybook town of Bruges and hating every moment of it are quite funny, especially when he starts interacting with the strange characters that seem to inhabit the streets of Bruges. These include the American dwarf actor, Jimmy, the beautiful but slightly insane Chloe and her ex-boyfriend Eirik, who's basically a complete tosser. Ray takes a fancy to Chloe and they return to her apartment, but are interrupted by Eirik, wielding a gun that fires blanks. Ray takes the gun from Eirik and fires it in front of him, blinding him in one eye. Ray also manages to have a disasterous dinner date with Chloe that results in him punching a Canadian at a neighbouring table and walking out. 

However Ray is constantly haunted by the scenes of his assassination gone wrong and the death of the young boy.

In the meantime, Raý's partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson, in fine form) has been enjoying the fairytale air and historical rarities of Bruges. He gets a call from their Estuary-accented and perpetually swearing boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) who tells him that his real mission is to murder Ray, as he has become a liability and the killing of a child is basically unforgiveable. The rest of the movie follows the three as they bumble their way away from and towards Ray's death. Ken decides not to kill Ray after he sees him contemplating suicide and Harry has to step in himself, resulting in an epic final act, that's as blood-splashed as you might wish.

Yet what is most memorable about the movie is not necessarily the violence, but the storybook scenery of Bruges and the ordinary characters of the two hitmen. Even Harry is shown to be normal guy with a family who will undoubtedly mourn him if he does not return from his mission of violence. The other memorable thing is the bizarre juxtapositions of the film - a racist dwarf? A tense standoff over a pregnant innkeeper? Finally, the witty and very humorous (dark humour) dialogue makes the movie very watchable when it feels like it is beginning to drag.

A very interesting and unusual gangster movie.