Traque à Boston

People are captivated by the extraordinary events. And people love to be entertained. So what could possibly be better than a dramatic story of extraordinary nature. Especially if it's based on real events, shows the heroism of simple people and touches the audience's sensitive patriotic spot.

That's basically a recipe for Patriots Day. Take the case of the Boston Marathon bombing, the largest terrorist attack in the US since 9/11, show it through the eyes of several regular people, first introducing their personal lives and then following them along the course of the main events. And finally, when it's all over, add some first-person moral lessons and conclusions, so that we all realize for sure how important and pivotal that event was for the people and for the world, and feel privy to its changing momentum.

All by itself, it's a pretty good, even noble approach. But there's a tiny little detail that changes everything: that all that must sell somehow, because even the extraordinary stories have to be entertaining. So the otherwise consistent and self-sufficient story is being infused with dramatization, laying it on even thicker where it's already been thick, and creating moments that might not have been there in the first place simply to make the story more of a thriller. A very similar thing happened just recently with Deepwater Horizon.

The result becomes a product with the typical Hollywood spin, but proudly called "based on real events". That it might be, but on the basis of real people's actions, beliefs and lives there has been put enough creative imagination for the film to feel at times fake, at times cheesy and at times way over the top. And we will never know for sure if some or other moments that touched each of us personally happened for real, or they were skillfully injected by the filmmakers to genetically modify the movie and make it more appealing to the audience. Having fallen for this trick before, I refuse to be bought so cheaply again. So I really wish movies such as Patriots Day were made as documentaries. Yes, maybe they wouldn't sell as much, but at least they would be sincere and true. And what if not truth and sincerity do such stories try to uphold?

While there are predictable social media conspiracy theories that the "whole thing was a hoax", the two bombs that went off near the finish line of the Boston marathon on April 15th 2013 killed three members of the public and injured more than 250 others. It was a life- changing event for those people and their immediate families, but sadly nothing more than a small footnote in the global story of car bombs and suicide missions that have killed and maimed thousands and thousands of people in war-stricken countries around the world in recent years. It's a point not lost on the scriptwriters of "Patriot's Day", the new film by Peter Berg ("Deepwater Horizon"). In an America where press freedom seems to be under increasing threat, the film refreshingly provides room for reflecting the antagonists' views, twisted and barking as they may be, and the film is better for that.

Mark Wahlberg ("Deepwater Horizon", "Ted") plays senior Boston homicide cop Tommy Saunders. He's on menial duties after a past indiscretion, but has just one last day stewarding the finish line of the Boston marathon before being allowed off the 'naughty step' by his boss, Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodson). Saunders is seen off to work by his wife (Michelle Monaghan, Mrs. Hunt from the Mission Impossible films) but his dull day's work is not going to go as planned thanks to the fanatical Tamerlan Tsarnaev (Themo Melikidze) and his compliant but bullied brother Dzhokhar (Alex Wolff). The pair plant the bombs along Boylston Street, wreaking havoc on American soil, and a massive man-hunt ensues that will see other lives impacted irrevocably before it's over.

The storytelling is reminiscent of 70's films like "Airport" and "The Towering Inferno" in introducing us to a wide range of characters at the start of the film, without knowing how they will later be placed into the jigsaw. Examples are Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese (J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash", "La La Land") of the Watertown police department who gets unexpectedly drawn into the action when chaos descends on his sleepy Boston neighborhood, and Chinese student Dun Meng (Jimmy O. Yang in a film debut) who has an unbelievable story of first-hand contact with the bombers.

Leading the FBI investigation is Richard DesLauriers (the prolific Kevin Bacon). Unfortunately I always muddle up Bacon with Wahlberg (it must be something about the facial features) so it's not helpful having them in the same film!

Even though I knew (albeit vaguely) all of the details of the bombing and the subsequent events, the film successfully made me feel tense throughout. Some of the set-piece action sequences – particularly the showdown in Watertown – are particularly well done. Given the number of rounds of ammo let off and the home-made grenades being lobbed, it is astounding that dozens of officers were not killed. The film is highly respectful towards the victims of the atrocity, with one of the most moving moments of the film being a silent vigil over one of the victims by a State Trooper (Billy Donahue).

Wahlberg in particular gives a great performance, with his emotional post-traumatic breakdown scene with Monaghan being his best acting performance in years. However, it is Wahlberg's character that is my major problem with the film. Unlike most of the other characters, who are based on their real-life counterparts, Tommy Saunders is a fictional composite of multiple real-life police officers, and his involvement in each and every part of the drama strained credibility to breaking point for me. It would have been far more effective, in my view, to stick nearer to reality and have a range of other cameos step into those roles.

There is a tendency (for this British viewer at least) for the film to overreach with its stirring patriotic message in the closing scenes, and there was the predictable trotting out of the 'real life' photos and videos in the finale, albeit that some of these are movingly portrayed. Apart from those reservations, this is a solidly well-made piece of docufiction that is enjoyable throughout.

Just a warning to sensitive viewers that there are obviously some scenes of bodily injury included: if grading on as scale where "Hacksaw Ridge" is a 10 and "Saving Private Ryan" an 8, then "Patriot's Day" would rate about a 7.

(For the graphical version of this review, and to comment on it, please visit bob-the-movie-man.com).

Various people's lives cross path in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and its following manhunt. It is directed by Peter Berg and starring Boston native Mark Wahlberg.

Originally, I feared Mark Wahlberg. He's not the greatest of actors although my bigger fear is that they would make the movie about him. That partly happened. Honestly, I cringed when he started yelling at Kevin Bacon and I rolled my eyes when he showed up to interview the Chinese guy. By placing him in the center of every aspect of the investigation, the movie loses a sense of reality. There is no need for him to be at every aspect of the manhunt. I do love the walk-thru with the security cameras. Otherwise, his role should be cut in half. This shouldn't be a vehicle for Mark.

On the other hand, I am overjoyed with the other people's stories. I love the Chinese guy and MIT security guy. This could cut back Wahlberg mugging for the cameras and add work from the other cops. Give me more J.K. Simmons. This movie should not be an one-man story if it purports to show the events in its entirety.

There seem to be a lot of negative reviews for this movie because of an apparent mis-telling of the story or true story or hoax or whatever else people have said. As I'm not American, and have very little to do with American events (so hence have no context as to the truth or hoax or conspiracy or whatever of the Boston Marathon) I shall just stick to reviewing the movie for what it is: a movie.

As a movie, they did a great job pulling it together. Mark Wahlberg plays his character perfectly. I have no idea if thats because of his acting ability, or if its more the fact that someone has yet again created a character that fits Mark Wahlberg to perfection. To be honest, it's probably the latter. Because of that, if you liked Deep Water Horizon then you'll probably like this because his acting is the same in both (which works fine because it's similar type of emotion and adrenaline you'd expect from both situations).

The character spread was also well done. You got to see the impacting/impacted characters early on and had a nice transition between their development as the movie progressed.

My only reservation about the film is that it pretty much gives you no explanation as to why the bombing even happened. Sure, it's easy for people to shout that it was terrorism or a hate crime, or done by hateful people, but that isn't an explanation. It might be true, but it's not an explanation, it's blatant ignorance which the world can no longer afford. This film could have benefited so much from shedding some light on the bombers motivation!!! To be honest, they were actually the one part that let this film down, Their storyline was wasted on surface level personality development and retracing of their steps throughout the event. Instead, the film should have used that time to instead show their motivation to commit the acts. This would have deepened their storyline and given the movie as a whole, a much richer and more stimulating story. In saying that, Themo Melikidze did a great job of making a believable character out of the little depth he was given.

All in all this was a good film, however, it does lack the depth and backbone necessary for a second viewing.

"Two people took many days and weeks to plan out hate but love responded in an instant." Tommy Saunders (Wahlberg) is a Sargent in the BPD. He is assigned to the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. As the race is winding down the unthinkable happens and Tommy is right in the middle of one of the worst terrorist attacks in history. Now, with little evidence or leads Tommy, the FBI and every cop around conduct a manhunt to try and catch those responsible. For some reason I was not really looking forward to watching this. I think one of the reasons may have been the fact that it is still too close to the actual events and I remember watching it unfold on TV so I didn't think this would be that interesting or new. That being said I couldn't have been more wrong. The fact that this story is less than 4 years old really worked for it because it really milked the events prior and it felt tense, then once the bombs went off the pace really picked up and even though you know how it ends you are still tense and on the edge of your seat. I have said many times that there have been movies that are still able to pull off tenseness and excitement even though you know the entire story. This is one of those movies. Don't let the fact that you already know what happened dissuade you from watching this. This is much better than I was expecting and highly recommend this. Overall, tense and exciting. I really really enjoyed this and was engrossed the entire time. I give this an A.