Vigilantes

Vigilantes
Throughout human history there have been many kinds of avengers better known as “vigilantes” who seek to rid the world of evil. According to Merriam Webster Encyclopedia a vigilante is a member of a volunteer committee organized to suppress and punish crime summarily majorly as when the processes of law are viewed as inadequate. (“vigilante”). The Showtime series Dexter (2006) andthe movie The Boondock Saints (1999) both recreate the essence of vigilantism.
Dexter Morgan is a blood spatter pattern analyst who is also a serial killer. During the day he works at Miami Metro Police as a forensics expert with. By night he becomes a vigilante who follows what he calls “The code” taught to him by his adoptive father, former officer Harry Morgan. Dexter was adopted by Harry andhis wife when his mother was killed. When Harry finds out his adoptive son passes his spare time killing the neighbor’s pets he realizes that Dexter has what they call a “dark passenger” who needs to be addressed because it is part of him. “The Code” consists of a series of rules that need to be followed dearly; it is based on two principles: dispose of all evidence so he never gets caught and hehas to be sure the victim is guilty of murder. Throughout the episode Dexter talks with Harry as if he was not dead, he acts like a conscience and it can be seen clearly that Dexter takes Harry’s advice into serious consideration always. Dexter says that he has no feelings so he has to disguise himself as a “normal person”. Before he kills his victims, Dexter performs an extensive stakeout on eachand every one of them to make sure he or she is guilty. Then he chooses the place or “killing room”, almost every time he puts up photos of the victim’s victims, when he catches the person, sedates him or her and transports him or her to the chosen place. When they get there, Dexter awakens him or her and lets him or her know why he or she is in that position. Right before killing, he takes asample of blood from the cheek as a souvenir. Finally he kills his victim, cuts him or her into small pieces, cleans the room and throws the parts on the open ocean using his boat, ironically called “Slice of life”.
Irish brothers Connor and Murphy McManus become vigilantes after being in jail for the murder in self-defense of Russian mobsters. When in jail they had an “epiphany” about their purposein life. When they came out of jail they started carrying out their “sacred mission” which was killing mobsters. Before each kill they would recite a prayer that was thought to them by their father; “And shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee. Power hath descended forth from thy hand that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command, we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming withsouls shall it ever be. In nomine patrie, et fili, et spiritu sancti” (Duffy). The “Saints” as people called them lived by the motto “Veritas et Aequitas” which means “Truth and Justice”. FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker is assign to the case of the mobster killings. At the beginning he leads the case as any other but then finds himself questioning whether the “Saints” were committing a crime orhelping the citizens of Boston. When the brothers walk into a trap set by mobsters, Agent Smecker decides to help them disguised as a lady just to enter the house. The brothers manage to escape and before they go out the house they meet face to face with “Il Duce” who turns out to be their father. Three months later when a chief mobster goes to trial, father and sons infiltrate with weapons in thecourt room and kill the mobster in front of the audience not before they tell everyone why they are doing what they’re doing. The movie finishes when the people that witnessed the murder run out of the court room and encounter reporters that ask them their opinion on whether the “Saints” are ultimately good or evil?
After watching both, Dexter (2006) and The Boondock Saints (1999) it is possible...