The opening scenes of I Went Down offer no real indication that anything special is going on – it's far from being the first Irish feature to begin the narrative with a prison-visit sequence. What follows is equally formulaic – a central character leaving prison, finding that relationships have shifted and the world has changed, and getting drawn against his will into a caper where he is apparently out of his depth. What comes next, you feel, is predictable: some gangsters, a few 'characters', a dodgy quest, and a chase across the Irish countryside that mimics in potholed microcosm the form of the great American road movies.

And it is just like that, except it isn't. Somewhere along the way – maybe fifteen or twenty minutes in – you realize that I Went Down has something special, something has lifts it head and shoulders above the competition. It's no single, specific element: more a combination of finely-observed characters and absurd situations, a pace and rhythm that gradually tunes itself to a flawless internal beat, and the way that familiar formulaic elements are bent out of shape – still recognizable, but with a clearly original twist. Characters and plot alike are both novel and familiar: the ideal combination if a film is to be both a critical and commercial success. Director Paddy Breathnach brings considerable skill and artistry to bear on an essentially popular format; in the process, he raises the genre to a height rarely seen in Irish cinema. This kind of thing has been attempted often enough: I Went Down is one of very few movies where the attempt is an unqualified success.

Peter McDonald, as Git, is the still centre of the vortex. The (relatively) rational observer, the survivor. His counterpart – in the familiar love/hate 'buddy' schema – is Bunny, played with magnificent exuberance by Brendan Gleeson. Bunny is the kind of guy who just can't help himself – he finds it easier to rob a filling station than make a few simple purchases. His instinctive low-level criminality keeps complicating matters for the incongruously-named pair, who have been sent on a mysterious mission to Cork by Dublin crime boss Tom French (Tony Doyle). In Cork, they eventually collect an unwilling Frank Grogan (Peter Caffrey) and drive off towards a resolution of the various narrative strands that have been accumulating throughout the journey.

In passing, a number of incidental features are worth noting; each bears witness to the acuity of the script and the detail in which individual elements have been thought through. First, Dublin and Cork are clearly distinguished – each has an accent, an appearance, an urban culture and a criminal style that is uniquely its own. It's a simple enough, even obvious, counterpoint – but I can't recall seeing it expressed on screen so clearly before. For once, this isn't a Dublin-versus-the-rest Jackeen/Culchie thing – it's closer to the kind of American movie where the Chicago and Vegas mobs have a little difference to resolve. Neither of them is central: each is an autonomous node, a point on the map. Of course, the urban/rural cultural divide crops up in all kinds of ways – our two heroes' bewilderment in the middle of a bog, or a hilarious encounter with a country Garda who cheerily enquires after Git's imaginary relatives.

A second point is the way the film situates itself in an essentially cinematic world of gangsters and vendettas. While a certain basic level of realism is maintained, the basic generic features are more important, and are exploited to the full. Thus there is no heavy-handed attempt to drag in current Irish social issues – no clumsy efforts to suggest that the bad guys are 'drug barons' or whatever today's social hooodoo happens to be. I Went Down is purer than that; it avoids the preening parochialism of any attempt to weld together genre action and social issues. As a result, its black humour, its situation-driven comedy, its character study and its rhythmic structure are that much more effective. It holds together so well – and it keeps the audience watching – because it never wanders off down journalistic byways.

The title lives up to its various resonances – sexual and carceral among them – just as the film itself is true to its genre. That may not sound like much, but it's actually a major achievement – a funny, brilliantly-paced, complex but totally accessible, mature and highly entertaining mobster movie, set in Ireland but undistracted by the usual feeble efforts to explain in passing the essential nature of Irishness. I Went Down has jettisoned that kind of dubious ambition, and is all the better for it.

Gerry McCarthy – Film Ireland 61 (Oct/Nov 1997)