Barely Watchable and Almost Average Movie that is a Jumble of Laments on Religion, Revenge, Retribution, Loss, and other Such Things. The Cringe Factor is Close at hand and the Intrigue Waivers while the Sporadic Violence is just there.What must have at first seemed a Challenge for Leguizamo seems Unattainable as Each Twin is Underplayed as to Their Respective Good/Damaged Characters. The rest of the Cast is Hit and Miss and the Plot, when it doesn't Veer off Course, is Interesting Enough to Maintain some Mild Musings as to Motive and Hidden Realities.Overall it is not a Complete Failure but doesn't Amount to Much after all is Said and Done. In Fact, the Ending may be the Weakest Part in this Weak Film, although there are some other Vapid Sub-Plots that might also be a Contender.

It's not like I have a thing against dual roles. For the kids of yesteryear, Patty Duke makes a passable pair of cousins. In the sci-fi puzzler MOON--released within months of THE MINISTERS--Sam Rockwell divided three ways comes off as a heck of a lot richer than the thin gruel provided here when Leguizamo is merely split once. Even the math in this SISTERS wannabe gets fuzzy, as the badder twin's half-baked make-up job smacks of the post-accident district attorney in THE DARK KNIGHT, leaving it up to the viewer to decide if there really are 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 Leguizamos (assuming they are interested enough in this less-than-it-seems-at-first story to do any such calculations in the first place).One of the main faults of what could have been a better film, besides the shortcomings of the male lead, is that it weakens as it goes along, ending with a seen-coming-from-a-mile-away climax which not only fails to satisfy, but even smacks of the sort of "let's off the crazies in a morally unambiguous way even if it doesn't jive with the first 99% of the movie" which often was required by the Hayes Puritanical Censorship Code in a country allegedly setting the world standard for "Freedom of Speech" from 1934 until 1964.

Of course Boondock Saints wasn't the first movie, with people on a "mission", but you kinda feel like this goes a similar way. It also has some other people in it though and does not play for laughs or strays off into another reality. This stays grounded in "our" world, with real problems and some confusion (character and otherwise).It stays morally ambiguous, which may or may not be a good thing (depending on your view of things, or how you liked the acting. Name checking aside (also character names, see John L. for that), it does not bring completely new things on the table. But what it serves, it serves up pretty good (for a low budget movie that is). Harvey ("Bad Lieutenant") Keitel is always dependable, though John L. seems not at the top of his game. I've seen him do better things, with his roles.

Saw Harvey Keitel on the cover, so it couldn't be all bad right? True. Not all that bad.John Leguizamo plays dual roles as a pair of brothers who kill for the church, one of which falls in love with the daughter of one of his victims. Harvey Keitel is one of the daughters late fathers friends, who watches over the daughter, who is now a cop.Acting wasn't bad. Leguizamo is pretty good as the two brothers. The female lead is forgettable, but not awful. Keitel is great as always. The only horrible performance that made my skin crawl was from Wanda de Jesus (as the police captain), that woman can not act.Not a bad straight to DVD mystery/thriller. I'd check it out if everything else is gone at Blockbuster.