Since 2013, director Peter Berg and star Mark Wahlberg have become one of the film industry’s most notable actor-director duos thanks to the three films that they’ve worked on together up to this point. The primary common factor in these films is that all of them have been based on true stories in which real-life heroes found themselves coping with tragic and often life-threatening scenarios. Their first collaboration was 2013’s Lone Survivor, the true story of the 2005 joint military operation known as Operation Red Wings, where Navy SEALS found themselves stuck in enemy territory after the operation went south. And just a few months ago, we saw their second team-up in the form of Deepwater Horizon. That film focused on the 2010 explosion and subsequent oil spill (though, admittedly, it focused more on the former) that occurred on the BP-owned rig of the same name. For their third ‘true story’ team-up, and their second of 2016, Berg and Wahlberg tackle an event that is forever stuck in the minds of New Englanders like myself; the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. Patriots Day, which of course takes its name from the day on which the Marathon takes place, tells the true story of the day when brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev detonated two bombs near the Boston Marathon finish line and the following four days in which the city of Boston embarked on a manhunt to bring the two bombers to justice. As you might have already guessed, this film is an emotional heavy-hitter, especially if you come into it as a New England native. But, at the same time, it’s also a film that very much succeeds in terms of highlighting the heroism of those who were involved in the manhunt and the sense of unity that came in the wake of a dark day in U.S. history.
April 15th, 2013 was a day that started out like any other day. More specifically, it was the day of the 117th running of the Boston Marathon, the most popular sporting event in the New England area occurring, as always, on Patriots’ Day, the third Monday of April in the state of Massachusetts. But, at 2:49 PM, this day of celebration ended up turning into a tragic one when brothers Dzhokhar (Alex Wolff) and Tamerlan (Themo Melikidze) Tsarnaev detonated two pressure cooker bombs near the finish line on Boylston Street. Three people are killed and several others (around 264, per an official estimate) are injured in the blasts. Amidst all the chaos, FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon) is brought in to supervise the investigation of this terrorist attack alongside Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman). During this time, Sergeant Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg, playing a ‘composite’ character), who was working the security detail at the finish line when the attack occurred, also helps with the investigation. And once the FBI manages to identify the two brothers, they soon find themselves in a race against time to capture the two before they can leave the city and escape to New York, where they plan on committing another attack. And thus, all over the city, an intensive manhunt is spawned; one that is hellbent on bringing the Tsarnaevs to justice.
While director Peter Berg is primarily known for directing action films, Patriots Day is thankfully not just ‘an action film’. Really, the only major ‘action sequence’ in the entire film is the scene where the Tsarnaev brothers engage police officers on a suburban street in Watertown, Massachusetts. The rest of the film is focused solely on the manhunt for the two and Berg establishes a great amount of suspense throughout, even though most of us already know how it all plays out. From the build-up leading to the attack to the scene where a young student named Dun Meng (Jimmy O. Yang) gets carjacked by the Tsarnaevs and is forced to ride along with them as they try and get out of the city, you’re genuinely left on the edge of your seat throughout, something that is very much a recurring element of these Berg-Wahlberg films. At the same time, Berg is also sure to be highly respectful of those who ended up as victims of the bombings. Just like what he did with Lone Survivor and Deepwater Horizon, the film starts out by setting up some of the main players prior to the incident (e.g. couple Jessica Kensky (Rachel Brosnahan) and Patrick Downes (Christopher O’Shea), who both lost a leg from the bombings and were initially placed in separate hospitals). Moments like these are simple but effective bits of character development that do just enough to fully endear us to these people before the big tragedy occurs. And, of course, with that in mind, this film is chock-full of emotional moments. There are gut-wrenching moments where characters break down due to what they just went through. And then there are heartwarming moments where characters reunite with each other after being separated during the bombings. In other words, it’s pretty much guaranteed that there aren’t going to be any dry eyes around when watching this.
As I noted earlier when I went through the plot synopsis, Mark Wahlberg’s character in this film is technically fictional, which is a first for his series of collaborations with Peter Berg after playing Marcus Luttrell in Lone Survivor and Mike Williams in Deepwater Horizon. The filmmakers have made it clear that Tommy Saunders is not a real person. Instead, he is an amalgamation of various police officers who were involved in the manhunt for the Tsarnaevs. Doing so allowed the filmmakers to highlight the heroism of all these officers without focusing directly on just one or two of them. Sure, maybe it does get a bit too darn coincidental that Saunders ends up being around for ‘every’ major incident during these four days but, for the most part, this was a respectable move and Wahlberg does do an excellent job in the role, very much fitting considering that he is a New England native. His collaborations with Berg have easily resulted in some of the best performances of his career and this film is no exception. As for the film’s equally great supporting cast, most of them primarily appear in bit roles throughout, including J.K. Simmons as Sgt. Jeffrey Pugilese, Watertown’s local police Sergeant who tackled Tamerlan Tsarnaev during the Watertown shootout, and Michelle Monaghan as Saunders’ wife Carol who, obviously given the scenario with Wahlberg’s role, is also a fictional character. Aside from Wahlberg, the two other ‘main characters’ in the film are Richard DesLauriers and Ed Davis, the primary two people who were overseeing the investigation. Both Kevin Bacon and John Goodman do stellar jobs in their respective roles and work off each other incredibly well, like in the scene where the two are arguing over the decision to publicly release the identities of the bombers when they learn that Fox News is about to do so first.
One of the key things to note about Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg’s three ‘true story’ films is that all of them are intense in some way. Lone Survivor was a war film that featured some particularly brutal action sequences. Deepwater Horizon, while rated PG-13, pushed its rating quite a bit with its intense scenes of destruction. And as for Patriots Day, well, you could tell where its intensity comes from. Obviously, this is not an easy watch, especially if you’re like me and you come from New England. But, through it all, Berg handles the story gracefully, highlighting the true heroism of those who worked countless hours to bring the marathon bombers to justice. And keep in mind, Berg is not a native New Englander. It really goes to show that one of his greatest strengths as a director is that whenever he does a ‘true story’ of this nature, he always handles it with class, so to that, on behalf of my fellow New Englanders, I salute you, Mr. Berg, for your terrific handling of this story. And in this case, it also helps that he has Mark Wahlberg, who is a native of the area, to work with. While Wahlberg is technically playing a ‘fictional’ character, he still does a great job in the role, especially when it comes to encompassing the heroism of all those who were involved in the manhunt that he is representing through this character. So, in conclusion, while my viewing of the film was partially hindered by some of the worst examples of ‘annoying filmgoers’ that I’ve ever endured (I’ll explain more in an upcoming post), Patriots Day is another success for the team of Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg. It’s an emotional and powerful film that runs the full gamut of emotions that you’ll be feeling while watching it. From the dread of waiting for the bombs to go off to the horror of their devastation to the determination of the entire city to bring the Tsarnaevs to justice and finally the satisfaction of seeing Dzhokhar captured after the city-wide lockdown, this film is the very definition of the term ‘emotional roller-coaster’.
Rating: 5/5!
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