As a historical recreation of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, I thought Director Peter Berg did a terrific job adapting that event into a movie. Part of what really worked was that he was able to effectively juggle the huge ensemble cast of characters into the narrative, from the people of law enforcement, the victims of the bombing, and those responsible for the attack. When things happen to those characters, you have enough context to care about who they are, which really adds to the weight of the story.
The main focus of the movie is mostly about what immediately happened after the terrorist act. We're shown the huge procedural work and the hunt for those terrorists, as well as what those bombers did next. Everything there were very engaging, and no disrespect to the fact this actually happened in real life, but the whole thing played really well as a gripping tense thriller, that included some incredible plot turns, chases, gun fights, and explosions. Thematically, this is about the resolve of a city and it's people, to fight back against those who have hurt them, and to still be able to find hope and love at the end of a great tragedy.
If there is one primary complaint about the movie, it's Mark Wahlberg's all-purpose fictionalized character of Sargent Tommy Saunders. It's one thing that his character just so happens to conveniently and coincidentally be everywhere the story needs to go, but he even has several monologues that were so heavy handed in reminding us what the thematic point of the movie is. Most everything about his character was just so eye rolling worthy. Despite that issue though, "Patriots Day" is still quite the movie experience, and it was hard not to feel completely transfixed to what was being shown on screen.
lovedit ENJOYED IT itsokayitsmehitsterrible
