Patriots Day | Movie Review
Boston is very colonial and filled with history. It's also relatively safe compared to NYC or LA, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit... I mean, they shut a whole state down in the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. Yet, it doesn't have the craziest and overpriced metropolitan shenanigans and tomfoolery of a place like NYC.
I actually love Boston.
It's a great city — especially for a young, single, educated woman who wants to experience life like one of those TV sitcoms or dramas. She'll fit in there perfectly.
I watched Patriots Day, which is currently streaming on Netflix. The Wahlbergs are from the Boston area, so I'm sure it meant something personal to Mark Wahlberg in making the movie. It had a big budget, but was panned by critics when it was released in theaters — maybe because not enough time had passed yet. It's like when all the 9/11 movies came out, and all those movies were panned as well.
I thought it was an excellent movie, and apparently so do many other people who are streaming it, as it was ranked #1 on Netflix recently (not sure if it's still holding or not). I thought the movie, direction, and especially music was fantastic. There were no songs, but the music score was very classical and had the right somber tone for the event.
I did not really think the character of Tommy Saunders needed to be included or that he added much to the movie (especially since Wahlberg's character was the only main cast that was fictional); but I thought Kevin Bacon, J. K. Simmons and Jimmy Yang was excellent.
As for the most factual part of the ensemble storylines, I think Du Meng's storyline is the most factual and accurate. He was incredibly brave, as most people do not have good odds of escape when the assailant has a gun and your car, and you're also outnumbered.
I also thought the direction of the overall movie was excellent too. Like, Hollywood critics are so weird. They find over-the-top movies like Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood artistic historical re-enactments, but lambastes realistic depictions with contextual plot lines. Mind boggling.
Anyway, it's a great movie. You should watch it.
*** Spoiler Warning ***
Patriots Day (2016), with Mark Wahlberg, full movie recap — the movie follows the real-life events surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013, and the massive investigation that followed.
During the Boston Marathon, two bombs explode near the finish line. The attacks kill three people and injure hundreds. The movie shows the chaos from the perspectives of victims, police officers, first responders, and witnesses.
Mark Wahlberg's character:
Wahlberg plays Tommy Saunders, a fictional Boston police sergeant. He's a composite character created for the movie rather than a real person; whereas others were reenactment of actual real people. Through him, the film follows the investigation and response.
The FBI and Boston Police begin reviewing surveillance footage from businesses and cameras around the marathon route. Investigators eventually identify two suspects: Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Islamic brothers living in the Boston area.
The brothers later kill an MIT police officer and flee in a stolen car. They engage in a violent confrontation with police in Watertown, Massachusetts. Tamerlan is seriously wounded and dies after being run over during the chaos.
Dzhokhar escapes and hides inside a boat parked in a residential backyard.
Police surround the area and eventually discover Dzhokhar hiding in the boat. He is arrested alive.
The movie ends by emphasizing the real people: the victims, survivors, first responders, and the broader Boston community. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was later convicted in federal court and sentenced to death; the death sentence was ultimately reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.
One important thing: the movie mixes real events with fictionalized/composite characters and dramatized scenes, so it's not a completely literal account of everything that happened unlike other bio-pics or movies based on real events.
