Patriot's Day - directed by Peter Berg
Peter Berg seems to have decided to exclusively make based on true stories movies it would appear.
After the excellent "Lone Survivor" and the pretty good "Deepwater Horizon" I thought that he might take a break and go back to some of his less serious kinds of movies like "Battleship" which is fun and perfectly fine or "Hancock" which is half a good movie at least.
But no - Berg takes an even darker path to bring us the story of the bombings at the Boston Marathon in 2013.
I was concerned that there really wasn't much to tell here - the bombing and the huge manhunt that followed were reported very heavily as the days went on.
I could recall exactly what happened and to whom.
So I was pretty surprised to find myself completely enthralled by this tense and often emotional film.
Obviously there is another recent trend with Peter Berg's 'based on fact' movies - the casting of Mark Wahlberg in the lead.
Here Wahlberg plays Boston Police Officer Tommy who ironically is a fictional character.
When brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerian Tsearnaev detonate two bombs during the Boston Marathon Tommy is right there.
The first part of the film concerns the medical response to the explosions.
We have already met a host of characters who will be affected in various ways from Tommy's wife Carol (Michelle Monaghan) to young couple Patrick and Jessica (Christopher O'Shea and Rachel Brosnahan) who are watching the race.
Then of course there are the bombers who we spend a lot of time with.
It could be argued that too much time is spent with them.
The focus of the movie changes very quickly from the victims of the blast to the investigative team to the bomber brothers.
There isn't a lot of preamble but it is pretty entertaining.
Wahlberg's Tommy takes part in an arrest which affords a very funny line involving the word 'smoothie'.
Tommy has been reprimanded for an indiscretion that isn't directly detailed and as a result finds himself sporting a Hi-vis vest to help with the annual Boston Marathon.
From there it is on to the serious business of the bomb blasts.
Berg doesn't hold back much during the scenes of the explosions.
Some of the violence is pretty graphic.
We see severed limbs and a lot of blood.
The sense of panic is amplified by the crowd scenes leading up to it and the shots of the terrorist brothers dropping their backpack bombs right amongst the dense throng of onlookers.
In addition to the realistic scenes of carnage there is a steady stream of F-bombs throughout the movie and some realistic shootout scenes.
It is amazing that this film wasn't dealt an R16 rating.
Perhaps it is the considerable emotion that the film generates that aided in a gentler rating.
I found several scenes quite affecting and while I have read some criticism that it employs cheap heart-string tugging I didn't find anything clumsy or cheap about this aspect.
The cast is very, very good which for me is the reason that I felt the movie earned its emotional moments.
Wahlberg who I generally like but nonetheless consider overrated as an actor does a great job here.
He gets a couple of scenes in which he lets loose first tears and then some cop wisdom.
J.K Simmons is perfectly cast as the tough as nails veteran cop who features most prominently in the major shootout near the movies end.
He, like most of the characters (even one of the terrorists) is shown to have a strong relationship with his wife.
Berg is not subtle in making the point that love is the best weapon in the face of terror but regardless also makes a case for bullets being effective too!
The only real criticism I have of "Patriot's Day" is that it can be a little muddled.
It swings from a cop drama to an anti-terrorism procedural to a hostage thriller and finally to an action flick with a highly impressive shootout.
Ultimately though this is a superbly well made movie of the kind that Berg has really shown a talent for.
I have always found his films to be tightly structured, well edited and never for a second dull and while I still rate "Lone Survivor" as his best work this one is a close second.
I find myself glued to the screen for the entire film even though I knew exactly what was going to happen at every turn.
There are a bunch of actors here who I admire including John Goodman, Kevin Bacon, Rachel Brosnahan and Melissa Benoist who I didn't even realise was in the film until I checked who played the elder terrorist's wife!
The actors who play the bombers bear striking resemblances and do a fine job keeping their characters the right side of caricature.
My favourite character though is Jimmy O. Yang's Dun Meng - the young Chinese man carjacked and held hostage for much of the second half of the film.
Yang is a comedian but does a great job with the very serious character.
I wish Michelle Monaghan, John Goodman and Rachel Brosnahan had more to do however.
They are all superb and in the case of the actresses underrated.
There is plenty to recommend here.
Although I have argued that the film is a little muddled this very same aspect also provides a lot of entertainment.
I loved all of the investigative stuff when Kevin Bacon's FBI Special Agent takes charge.
Watching his team trawling through hours of video footage and the manner in which they recreate the crime scene was fascinating.
And of course the bloody action scene towards the end is thrilling.
"Patriot's Day" to me feels like an important document of a horrible event.
It shows Boston to be a city that is staunch in its belief in itself and its citizens.
It's a place that I have always wanted to visit and if there is even an ounce of truth to this films depiction of the city then I am even more interested in going.
Fascinating, tensely exciting stuff.
RATING: 82 / 100
CONCLUSION: Brilliant casting and direction and despite wanting to be perhaps too many things at once this is an engrossing movie.
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, Melissa Benoist, J.K. Simmons, Rachel Brosnahan, Jimmy O. Yang, Christopher O'Shea, Jake Picking, Alex Wolff, Themo Melikidze, Michael Beach
Screenplay: Peter Berg, Joshua Zetumer & Matt Cook
Music Score by: Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Cinematography: Tobias A. Schliesser
Edited by: Gabriel Fleming & Colby Parker Jr.
Running Time: 133 minutes
Language: English
Rated: R13 - Violence & profanity
Running Time: 133 minutes
Language: English
Rated: R13 - Violence & profanity
After the excellent "Lone Survivor" and the pretty good "Deepwater Horizon" I thought that he might take a break and go back to some of his less serious kinds of movies like "Battleship" which is fun and perfectly fine or "Hancock" which is half a good movie at least.
But no - Berg takes an even darker path to bring us the story of the bombings at the Boston Marathon in 2013.
I was concerned that there really wasn't much to tell here - the bombing and the huge manhunt that followed were reported very heavily as the days went on.
I could recall exactly what happened and to whom.
So I was pretty surprised to find myself completely enthralled by this tense and often emotional film.
Obviously there is another recent trend with Peter Berg's 'based on fact' movies - the casting of Mark Wahlberg in the lead.
Here Wahlberg plays Boston Police Officer Tommy who ironically is a fictional character.
When brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerian Tsearnaev detonate two bombs during the Boston Marathon Tommy is right there.
The first part of the film concerns the medical response to the explosions.
We have already met a host of characters who will be affected in various ways from Tommy's wife Carol (Michelle Monaghan) to young couple Patrick and Jessica (Christopher O'Shea and Rachel Brosnahan) who are watching the race.
Then of course there are the bombers who we spend a lot of time with.
It could be argued that too much time is spent with them.
The focus of the movie changes very quickly from the victims of the blast to the investigative team to the bomber brothers.
There isn't a lot of preamble but it is pretty entertaining.
Wahlberg's Tommy takes part in an arrest which affords a very funny line involving the word 'smoothie'.
Tommy has been reprimanded for an indiscretion that isn't directly detailed and as a result finds himself sporting a Hi-vis vest to help with the annual Boston Marathon.
From there it is on to the serious business of the bomb blasts.
 |
| Mark Wahlberg, John Goodman and Kevin Bacon |
Some of the violence is pretty graphic.
We see severed limbs and a lot of blood.
The sense of panic is amplified by the crowd scenes leading up to it and the shots of the terrorist brothers dropping their backpack bombs right amongst the dense throng of onlookers.
In addition to the realistic scenes of carnage there is a steady stream of F-bombs throughout the movie and some realistic shootout scenes.
It is amazing that this film wasn't dealt an R16 rating.
Perhaps it is the considerable emotion that the film generates that aided in a gentler rating.
I found several scenes quite affecting and while I have read some criticism that it employs cheap heart-string tugging I didn't find anything clumsy or cheap about this aspect.
The cast is very, very good which for me is the reason that I felt the movie earned its emotional moments.
Wahlberg who I generally like but nonetheless consider overrated as an actor does a great job here.
He gets a couple of scenes in which he lets loose first tears and then some cop wisdom.
J.K Simmons is perfectly cast as the tough as nails veteran cop who features most prominently in the major shootout near the movies end.
He, like most of the characters (even one of the terrorists) is shown to have a strong relationship with his wife.
Berg is not subtle in making the point that love is the best weapon in the face of terror but regardless also makes a case for bullets being effective too!
The only real criticism I have of "Patriot's Day" is that it can be a little muddled.
It swings from a cop drama to an anti-terrorism procedural to a hostage thriller and finally to an action flick with a highly impressive shootout.
 |
| The great supporting cast - Michelle Monaghan, Rachel Brosnahan, Jimmy O Yang and Melissa Benoist |
I have always found his films to be tightly structured, well edited and never for a second dull and while I still rate "Lone Survivor" as his best work this one is a close second.
I find myself glued to the screen for the entire film even though I knew exactly what was going to happen at every turn.
There are a bunch of actors here who I admire including John Goodman, Kevin Bacon, Rachel Brosnahan and Melissa Benoist who I didn't even realise was in the film until I checked who played the elder terrorist's wife!
The actors who play the bombers bear striking resemblances and do a fine job keeping their characters the right side of caricature.
My favourite character though is Jimmy O. Yang's Dun Meng - the young Chinese man carjacked and held hostage for much of the second half of the film.
Yang is a comedian but does a great job with the very serious character.
I wish Michelle Monaghan, John Goodman and Rachel Brosnahan had more to do however.
They are all superb and in the case of the actresses underrated.
There is plenty to recommend here.
Although I have argued that the film is a little muddled this very same aspect also provides a lot of entertainment.
I loved all of the investigative stuff when Kevin Bacon's FBI Special Agent takes charge.
Watching his team trawling through hours of video footage and the manner in which they recreate the crime scene was fascinating.
And of course the bloody action scene towards the end is thrilling.
"Patriot's Day" to me feels like an important document of a horrible event.
It shows Boston to be a city that is staunch in its belief in itself and its citizens.
It's a place that I have always wanted to visit and if there is even an ounce of truth to this films depiction of the city then I am even more interested in going.
Fascinating, tensely exciting stuff.
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