It seems strange to call a blood-smeared movie about stone-cold killers charming. Yet that's what "In Bruges" is for much of the time. Irish playwright and first-time director Martin McDonagh demonstrates a knack for infusing humor and poignancy into a story that builds inexorably to a final reckoning among its gangster heroes. Irony is piled atop irony and karmic consequence atop karmic consequence.

Colin Farrell plays Ray, one of two professional hit men on the run. Brendan Gleeson plays Ken, the older of the two. Ray has recently botched his first job: While murdering a priest he accidentally kills a young boy. He's riddled with guilt and finds himself on the verge of suicide.

Harry, their boss, inexplicably sends them to Bruges, Belgium, to hide out. Played by Ralph Fiennes, the top gangster is volatile and sentimental and has a soft spot for the charming medieval city. He feels that his subordinates will love it as well.

Ken, Ray's babysitter, falls victim to the picturesque city's charms. He's a dedicated tourist who is determined to soak up some culture while laying low. Ray hates the city. "What's so interesting about history," he wonders. "Everything's already happened." The only artistic and historic artifact that he finds interesting is Heironymus Bosch's nightmarish painting of "The Last Judgment." Like every component of the movie, this prefigures what is yet to come. McDonagh gives every seemingly insignificant act a purpose but he does so in a sly and believable way.

Ray's boredom finally dissipates when he stumbles into a movie set that features a dwarf in a key role. He meets the dwarf, played by Jordan Prentice, and begins to expound on the high suicide rate among little people. Jordan is not amused but Chloe is. Played winningly by Clemence Poesy, she's a drug dealer and rip-off artist who falls into Ray's orbit.

The performances are top-shelf and the characters engaging despite their felonious profession. Gleeson is fatherly and forebearing. Farrell is spiritually wounded but capable of sharp comic moments. Fiennes, playing against type, is a hardcase who is sinister yet honor-bound. Much of the screenplay is devoted to codes, conscience and loyalties. While McDonagh's humor is frequently dark and ironic, his overview is moralistic. When Ray and Ken aren't sightseeing and partying, they're ruminating about the state of their souls. Harry, too, has his own principles which he follows to the letter.

You can't pigeonhole "In Bruges." Its depiction of the city is enticing. Its dialogue is crisp, often funny and illuminating and thoroughly profane. Its violence is shocking when it erupts so be forewarned. Perhaps its highest achievement, though, is finding the potential goodness in people who do bad things.