Film: “Patriots Day”; Director: Peter Berg; Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, J.K. Simmons, Michelle Monaghan, Alex Wolff, Themo Melikidze, James Colby, Michael Beach, Rachel Brosnahan, Christopher OShea, Jake Picking, Jimmy O. Yang, Vincent Curatola, Melissa Benoist and Khandi Alexander; Rating: ***
On April 15, 2013, brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev detonated two pressure cooker bombs during the Marathon held in Boston city, causing widespread panic.
The film, “Patriots Day”, is a drama-thriller, a documentary of the brave survivors. It is the retelling of the 2013 Boston marathon bombing and the subsequent manhunt. It is an intense as well as jittery recount of the event.
With a verbose, inspirational narrative, packed with nuggets of information focusing on a few survivors, police, FBI and the Mayor of Boston, the film is a by-the-book action film which tells us how an entire city came together during the stressful time. And the result is an average, exploitative film with no real purpose.
This is the third collaboration between director Peter Berg and actor Mark Wahlberg, the earlier two being “Deepwater Horizon” and “Lone Survivor”.
With an injured knee and a suspension order dangling on his head, Wahlberg provides the typically likable focal point as the fictional character Tommy Saunders, a sergeant with the Boston Police Department.
In underwritten roles, he is aptly supported by; Michelle Monaghan as his wife Carol Saunders, John Goodman as Ed Davis the Police Commissioner of Boston, Kevin Bacon as Richard DesLauriers the no-nonsense FBI investigator, Alex Wolff as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Jimmy O.Yang as Dun Meng and lastly J.K. Simmons as Sargeant Jeffrey Pugliese.
The visuals captured by a shaky handheld camera by cinematographer Tobias A. Schliessler establish a sense of gritty naturalism throughout.
Passionately the film works to a certain extent. It takes you deep into the action scenes but does not hook you emotionally. To be fair, there are moments of brilliance. The build up to the marathon, as well as the bombing itself, is well presented and the immediate aftermath of the carnage is tastefully done.
But the film lacks energy or an interesting peg for the audience to get involved. It does not have a voice – either jingoistic or retrograde xenophobia. Neither does it have any artistic stamp, for it to stand out.
Nevertheless, there are a few redeeming qualities to the film. How the control room was created and the way real phone and security camera footage was interwoven in relevant scenes reminds us of how this actually happened, making the entire experience even more chilling.
But it is only when the Chinese man Dun Meng, who was held hostage in the hijacked car escapes from the brothers’ clutches, does the telling become thrilling with edge-of-seat tension.
Berg manages to infuse a few relatable moments in the film but he also leaves the audience grappling for a few unanswered questions caused by gaping plot holes. It also makes us question the purpose of this film.
By Troy Ribeiro
