Patriots Day (2016) review

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 15^th, 2013 was a day that started out like any other day. More specifically, it was the day of the 117^th 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!

Black Mass (2015) review

Contrary to what recent critical and commercial buzz may suggest, Johnny Depp is technically still one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Consistently one of the highest-paid actors in the industry, he’s the star of Disney’s biggest live-action film franchise, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, with the series’ fifth installment set to come out in 2017. Not only that, but he has also had some solid critical/commercial hits over the years as well, many of which came with his most frequent collaborator Tim Burton. It’s just that in recent years, Depp has hit a bit of a rough patch as he has been a part of some highly notorious box-office bombs, including ‘The Lone Ranger’ and this past January’s ‘Mortdecai’. Because of this, his newest film, ‘Black Mass’, is being hailed by many as a ‘return to form’ for Depp. In it he plays, as the trailers promote, ‘one of the most notorious gangsters in U.S. history’, former South Boston crime boss James ‘Whitey’ Bulger. The film covers the story of how Bulger ended up becoming a key informant of the FBI through the workings of one of his old friends, agent John Connolly, resulting in an ‘unholy alliance’ that lasted for nearly two whole decades. Depp is most definitely the star of the show here in this highly engaging crime thriller that may not reinvent the wheel when it comes to the crime film genre but is still a well-made biopic about one of the most infamous criminals that America has ever had to deal with.

In 1975, James ‘Whitey’ Bulger (Johnny Depp) is in charge of all organized crime in South Boston as the head of the Winter Hill Gang while his younger brother William ‘Billy’ Bulger (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a member of the Massachusetts Senate. However, Bulger constantly faces opposition from the Angiulo Brothers, who run crime up in the North End and are intent on taking over his turf. Around the same time, John Connolly (Joel Edgerton), an old childhood friend of the Bulger brothers, returns to Boston having now become an agent with the FBI. Looking to take down the Angiulos as well, Connolly approaches Bulger with the idea of him becoming an informant for the FBI. That way, not only can the FBI finally take down the North End gang, who have been frequently flying under their radar for years, but Whitey will also be able to get rid of his North End rivals once and for all. Whitey agrees to the deal but is instructed by Connolly and the FBI to not commit any crimes or murder anybody. But, as things turn out, Bulger does not follow these orders as all as he continues his business as usual, expanding his empire while Connolly keeps the FBI off his tail. Soon enough, Whitey’s increasingly violent actions start to put their relationship in hot water once the FBI finally starts looking into their corrupt affairs.

‘Black Mass’ primarily focuses on Bulger’s ‘alliance’ with the FBI from 1975 to 1990. This film doesn’t cover anything about his time as a ‘fugitive’ after he got exposed by the media. Instead, his eventual fate of finally being apprehended in 2011 is relegated to the film’s final moments. But that’s totally fine because ‘Black Mass’ is still a very compelling crime drama even if it doesn’t tell ‘the whole story’. And ultimately the main reason why this film is so captivating is due to how fascinating of a character Whitey Bulger was. As noted in the film’s opening narration, despite all that he did over the years as the ‘kingpin’ of crime in South Boston, he was also a beloved figure in his neighborhood. Cold and quiet but also menacing and ferocious, you can never take your eyes off of him whenever he’s on screen, especially in scenes where he’s threatening someone. Admittedly, the film is a rather straight-forward effort as far as the gangster genre is concerned, not really pulling a lot of ‘major’ punches in terms of its story. But at the end of the day, I don’t hold this against the film that much because this is truly meant to be an acting showcase. As a director, Scott Cooper definitely knows how to get great performances out of his cast.  

As it has been advertised, Johnny Depp is absolutely fantastic in this as Whitey Bulger. While I personally feel that Depp’s been doing fine as an actor in recent years in terms of his performances, even when taking into account all of the very eccentric roles that he has played, I will concur that this is one of the best performances of his career. Not only does he completely disappear into the role of Bulger, but he also perfectly captures Bulger’s intimidating demeanor to the point where he legitimately does become quite scary at times. But while Depp has been getting the most attention for his turn as Bulger, Joel Edgerton is equally outstanding as John Connolly. Whereas Bulger is cold and intimidating, Connolly is more conniving and corrupt, loyal to the Bulger brothers but willing to break the law to help them out. The film actually does a really nice job of balancing out the roles of these two men and Edgerton more than holds his own against Depp. As for the rest of the cast, they’re just as excellent with their roles in the film ranging from major, like Cumberbatch as Billy Bulger and Rory Cochrane and Jesse Plemons as two of Bulger’s associates in the Winter Hill Gang, to minor, like Corey Stoll as the FBI agent who heads the investigation into Bulger’s criminal activities and Dakota Johnson as Bulger’s first wife, who’s only in the film for about five minutes or so, disappearing altogether after a crucial scene in which their son ends up dying from Reye Syndrome.

‘Black Mass’ is definitely one of those films that makes me want to read more into the true story that inspired it; in this case, the tale of Whitey Bulger and his time as an FBI informant. And to be perfectly frank, considering that I’m from New England, this does make the story even more intriguing to me given how big of a deal this must have been back in the day. Of course the main selling point of the film is Johnny Depp’s transformational and ferocious performance as the infamous New England mob boss. It’s easily one of the best performances of his career but another career-best performance comes from Joel Edgerton as the man who allowed the ‘alliance’ between Bulger and the FBI to happen in the first place, John Connolly. At this moment, they’ve become some of the biggest frontrunners for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, at next year’s Oscars. Heck, if we’re talking ensemble awards, this film also features an excellent ensemble cast as well. I can’t really go as far as say that ‘Black Mass’ is one of the all-time greatest gangster flicks, nor is it one of my absolute favorite films of the year, but it’s definitely a solid film that held my interest from beginning to end that, above all, proves that Johnny Depp isn’t just a one-trick pony as some may feel that he is nowadays given his recent films.

Rating: 4.5/5