Patriots Day depicts the events of the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013 and the subsequent manhunt for those responsible. Patriots Day is the third collaboration between director Peter Berg and actor Mark Wahlberg, following up Deepwater Horizon and Lone Survivor, to depict a recent true story in typical bio-pic fashion, they should totally get a production company up and going called Berg & 'Berg (Just a thought).
Patriots Day is very unique in the regard it walks the fine line between being a reenactment, a documentary, and an overdramatized depiction of the events. The film could have easily fallen off the tightrope into one of the aforementioned categories in less capable hands but Berg delivers one of the most authentic cinematic experiences imaginable. One aspect I really liked was how Berg and editors Gabriel Fleming and Colby Parker Jr. were able to incorporate actual security camera footage and news reports without compromising the film overall. I'm not sure exactly how accurate the story is but everything that happened certainly felt real, and that's the highest praise I can give Patriots Day, and seemed like a fairly reasonable approximation of the events based on the news reports I remember.
Every line of dialogue and even the most basic character interactions felt incredibly authentic and that can all be credited to the writers behind Patriots Day's story and screenplay; Eric Johnson, Paul Tamasy, Joshua Zetumer, Matt Cook, and Berg himself. Patriots Day chronicles the events through multiple perspectives, maximizing the emotional connection to these characters, and there will be times while you're watching it where you will wonder how this character could possibly factor into the story but I guarantee every scene thought to be a wasted moment has its payoff down the line.
The only real shortcomings from the script is that due to the multitude of viewpoints explored many characters feel a tad underdeveloped and Mark Wahlberg's fictional police officer Tommy Saunders feels like a convenient connective tissue tying everything together. In other departments, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' chilling compositions provide an ideal ambiance and Patriots Day's cast is the cream of the crop, with big names aplenty in key supporting roles and relative unknowns filling in the gaps.
Even though Mark Wahlberg plays a fictional character, he delivers what I'd consider one of his career best performances. Wahlberg has one scene in particular after the bombing that's absolutely phenomenal exploring the PTSD angle to law enforcement, similar to a scene in Deepwater Horizon although under completely different context.
Sprinkled throughout the supporting cast, Jimmy O. Yang's Dun Meng is one of the film's everyday heroes who will leave a lasting impression, Themo Melikidze and Alex Wolff successfully humanize the bomber brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, while Melissa Benoist is haunting in an interrogation scene as the Tamerlan s wife, surprising because she's typically a bright rosey face as Supergirl. John Goodman, Kevin Bacon, J.K. Simmons, and Michelle Monaghan each deliver admirable supporting roles but as I mentioned earlier are scarcely underdeveloped.
In summary, Patriots Day could have easily become a propaganda piece but Berg paid the upmost respect to those affected by the bombing and appropriately honored those who shone in Boston's darkest moments.
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