Review #1,184: 'Patriots Day' (2016)

Teaming up once again with actor Mark Wahlberg to tell a true-life tale of American heroism in the face of disaster and tragedy, director Peter Berg tackles the very recent Boston marathon bombings, which occurred just four years ago in 2013, with Patriots Day. Starting with 2013's Lone Survivor, which followed a close unit as they are surrounded by a hostile Afghan enemy, and continuing with Deepwater Horizon last year, which followed the events that led to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Berg has saved the best of his trilogy until last. The second of two films he released in 2016, one would expect Patriots Day to be hastily put together, but is in fact Berg's most accomplished and well-crafted movies to date.

Tommy Saunders (Wahlberg) is a Boston police sergeant facing a slap on the wrist by his superiors for a bust-up with one of his fellow officers. Already carrying a swollen knee, he feels humiliated for having to don the police uniforms and carry out routine police duty at the finishing line of the Boston marathon. The day is all going to plan and the spectators are having fun taking part, until two bombs detonated by terrorists Tamerlan Tsarnaev (Themo Melikidze) and his younger, more Americanised brother Dzhokhar (Alex Wolff), send the city into panic and action. The film follows the events immediately before and after the attack, switching between various characters who will eventually be caught up in the aftermath. There's a young, attractive couple at the starting line as the explosions hit; Chinese student Dun Meng (Jimmy O. Yang) who has his car jacked by the brothers; and a police sergeant of nearby city Watertown, Jeffrey Pugliese (J.K. Simmons).

Although there will be those watching who followed the events closely as they unravelled through the media back in 2013, Berg is meticulous with detail, seemingly following every decision made as the cops and FBI try to figure out who was behind the attacks, and having the actors eerily reenact the surveillance footage that was released to the public during the manhunt. There is a workmanship quality about it, with Berg opting for a matter-of-fact dramatisation of the events rather than sensationalising them. Some of the best scenes have seasoned actors verbally spar with each other, with the FBI initially hesitant to label the bombing an act of terrorism and later to release photographs of the suspects to the media. These moments are brought to life by a slimmed-down John Goodman as Boston Commissioner Ed Davis and Kevin Bacon as Special Agent Richard DesLauriers.

Like the Berg/Wahlberg movies that came before, Patriots Day is clearly well-intended. But while Lone Survivor took place in 2005 and Deepwater Horizon in 2010, the dust has barely settled in Boston. and the attack must still linger in the mind of those who witnessed it. It would be justified to label the film as too soon, but Berg makes a point of highlighting the spirit of Boston as a whole. While this leads to some of the film's cheesiest dialogue, Patriots Day feels like a raised fist of defiance rather than a potentially insensitive cash-in of a very recent tragedy, interviewing some of the characters' real-life counterparts at the very end. It is also incredibly good at building tension, depicting the everyday actions of those who will later cross paths with the fugitives before exploding into an action-packed finale. Berg is more than capable of staging an accomplished set-piece, and he is successful in delivering a realistic and riveting climax, rounding off a solid piece of storytelling that is respectful of all the Bostonians who came together in 2013 for the city they love.


Directed by: Peter Berg
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, J.K. Simmons, Michelle Monaghan
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie