The Guard is a small film which manages both to tickle and unnerve at the same time. Gleeson's performance utterly swamps everything before it, but it's to the film's credit that it never quite becomes a big screen Father Ted. There may be philosophy-spouting gangsters, but the threat they pose is real, and the film tries very hard (mostly succeeding) to walk a line between comedy and gangster movie. The characterisation is excellent, notably framed by the buddy movie pairing of Gleeson and Cheadle. Is Gleeson an irrepressible, drinking and whoring buffoon, or just smart yet offbeat? You're never left entirely sure until late on in the film. To the film's credit his Guard may be corrupt as hell in most conceivable ways, but he remains an easy hero, whom Bad Lieutenant style, you root for relentlessly. Cheadle on the other hand is someone I normally don't rate, but his FBI straight man is inspired, and fodder for many of the greatest moments in the film. It won't be to everyone's tastes, but in a film market dominated by identikit scripts and superheroes, it's an oasis of originality that I remain hugely fond of.