Biggest Rotten Tomatoes Score Gap Belongs to This 25-Year-Old Tarantino Rip-Off

As you know, Rotten Tomatoes rates individual reviews based on a single criterion: for or against the movie. This is more universal than the good old star system, which implies an element of indecision and therefore doubt: what does three out of five stars even mean?

Rotten Tomatoes boils it all down to a binary system – red tomato versus crushed green tomato – that adds up the scores of all reviewers and creates a single rating, making it so convenient to navigate the multitude of TV and movie projects.

Sometimes, however, the opinions of viewers and critics are radically opposite. And one of the clearest examples of this discrepancy is the movie The Boondock Saints, with perhaps the widest gap between critics' and audiences' ratings ever – 26% versus 91%, respectively.

What is The Boondock Saints About?

Two ordinary Irish men, brothers Connor and Murphy, lived and worked quietly in their native Boston until one day they had an epiphany: God himself had sent them to earth with a special mission, endowing them with holy power to cleanse the world of evil. Soon the local mafia is in a panic – the methods of the "saints" are not very humane, but they are very effective – the blood of the criminals flows like a river.

The mass murders of Mafia members could not help but attract the attention of the FBI. Special Agent Paul Smecker, who leads the investigation, finds himself in a difficult situation: his official duty requires him to stop the activities of the "holy brothers," but in his heart he not only sympathizes with them, but is even ready to join the executors of the "holy" mission.

Despite Some Similarities to Tarantino Movies, The Boondock Saints Has Its Own Face

In the late 2000s, after the resounding success of Quentin Tarantino 's first films, a wave of his imitators flooded world cinema, filling it with the same kind of attempts to outdo Quentin in wit and gore. It's no wonder that when The Boondock Saints came out, critics called it yet another Tarantino rip-off and gave it a monstrous 26% on Rotten Tomatoes.

But fortunately, audiences saw in Troy Duffy's crime comedy its own personality, interesting directorial choices, and a special vibe that was not too similar to Tarantino's. After going unnoticed at the box office, The Boondock Saints, once released on VHS, quickly gained cult status, and it was well deserved.

It was with The Boondock Saints that The Walking Dead star Norman Reedus began his great movie career. And Willem Dafoe, who played Agent Smecker with brilliant madness despite the secondary nature of the character, delivered one of his best performances ever.