Patriots Day | Film Review

On April 15th, 2013 the United States had to deal with yet another tragic act of terrorism. Two men planted remote pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring over two hundred fifty others in the process. It was a dark day in our country’s history, yet one that ultimately united the city of Boston upon the apprehension of the two brothers responsible for the crime.

It’s a story that was ripe for a movie adaptation, but going into Peter Berg’s “Patriots Day” made me a bit nervous. I’m not usually one for films based on serious, real-life events (especially ones so recent), but this had my attention as soon as the bombs went off. It’s rare for me to be so riveted by a story where I already know the ending, but there was enough information and situations with which I wasn’t familiar that more than kept my interest. On top of that, it had a great cast and a touching finale about humanity that gave me hope for the future.

It feels awkward to say that a movie based on such a horrible event was fun, but that’s exactly what it was. Although the majority of the film is shot in typical Hollywood fashion, there’s an added element: actual security footage from the marathon as well as the apprehension of one of the suspects. This aspect gave an eerie realism to what could have otherwise been a typical cash grab. It was exciting to see how the authorities were able to track down who the bombers were and watch other moments unfold that took place in between that I never caught on CNN. Granted, I’ll probably never know just how accurate the details were compared to the real events; but that doesn’t matter. The final product kept me on the edge of my seat and left me with a positive feeling about finding the silver lining when awful things happen.

Mark Wahlberg plays Tommy Saunders, the central character in this biopic, and while he’s great as a Boston cop thrown in the middle of an emergency, it’s refreshing that it’s not merely his story. “Patriots Day” borders on being an ensemble film showing perspectives from different real-life people. You see the law enforcement side with Saunders as he helps the mayor (John Goodman) and the lead FBI agent in charge of the investigation (Kevin Bacon) uncover vital details that lead to our inevitable happy ending. There’s also a young police officer attempting to woo an MIT student but winds up getting stuck in the middle of the tragedy. You have a couple who are both wounded in the bombing, but wind up in separate hospitals not knowing the fate of the other. You even see the perspective of the bombers themselves and the tarnished relationship between these two brothers that ultimately led to their untimely ends. All of the actors portraying these roles gave the film life. It was apparent within every scene that each cast member was deeply committed to the story they were telling, almost as if they could tell that the end product would carry its own unique importance.

I don’t really have anything negative to say about “Patriots Day”. I could probably say that Mark Wahlberg’s character seemed to have very “convenient” moments where he happened to be at the right place at the right time on more than one occasion. But I chalk that up to turning a real event into a Hollywood story. I was genuinely surprised by how enthralled I was. Don’t sweep this one under the rug as another mere opportunity for filmmakers to capitalize on bad news. It’s so much more than that, especially since it does what films rarely do these days: it leaves you feeling good about mankind.