Direction: Peter Berg; Cast: Mark Wahlberg, J.K. Simmons, Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan; Story and Screenplay: Matt Cook, Peter Berg, Joshua Zeturner; Cinematography: Tobias Schliessler; Editing: Colby Parker Jr.; Gabriel Fleming; Music: Trent Reznor & Gabriel Fleming; Producers: Genre: Drama - Action:Location: Boston,Massachusetts; Distributor: Lionsgate; Running Time: 133 minutes
Technical assessment: 3.5
Moral assessment: 3
CINEMA rating: V14
On April 15, 2013, the day when Boston gathers for the annual Marathon, two Russian Muslim brothers detonate two homemade bombs a few hours after winners cross the finish line. The explosion kills three and injures more than two hundred spectators—with more than a dozen requiring amputation. The true to life incident of the Boston Marathon Bombing is told from the perspective of Sergeant Tommy Saunders (Wahlberg) a foul-mouth homicide officer assigned at the VIP section of the race. His crass attitude metamorphoses into empathy after he witnesses the destruction caused by the explosion and the physical and emotional pain the victims underwent. His conviction to bring justice to the victims teams him up with FBI Special Agent Des Lauriers (Bacon) and Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis (Goodman). Along the first half of the narrative, we get glimpses of the would-be victims’ life and their struggle after the incident. The second half focuses on the manhunt of the police and the escape attempts of the perpetrators.
Patriots’ Day as a true-to-life feature attempts not just to recreate the Boston Marathon Bombing but also to retell the heroism of the entire community. Wahlberg’s character is a little overwritten leaving very little room for Bacon and Goodman. Yet, professional as these two are, they deliver strongly. The narrative is expectedly lopsided to favor the victims but since the purpose was to humanize the characters, it would not have hurt if the Tsarnaev brothers were presented with a deeper motivation. The editing coupled with very tight intimate framing is outstanding as it paces the story with dramatic crescendo and sympathetic familiarity. The movie is cleverly told with actual CCTV footages and reenactments but woven seamlessly. We are not sure about the inclusion of the real characters at the end as it feels gratuitous. Perhaps it could have been left as a bonus track for the DVD version.
There is nothing new in the narrative as the script remained as faithful to the actual events. But giving a glimpse of the lives of real people who got hurt, who responded and committed to solve the crime sheds an added value into the scene—community, resilience and courage. We Filipinos are no stranger to these given all the tragedies we've had to cope with, hence “Patriots Day” mirrors our sentiments as a tribute to a community struggling to rise above the pain and the disaster. Boston Strong becomes every person’s battlecry and every community’s hope in the face of tragedy. While Patriots' Day delivers a strong positive message, the graphic representation of the bombing and the victims might be too much for the younger audiences.
