When I first heard about Patriots Day as a movie-- the story of the Boston Bombing of 2013, I was very put off. It just sounded like a very unnecessary and exploitative film. Sure, there's definitely a story there, but is it one that needed to be filmed? Nothing screams cash-grab by a large film company than one that exploits the tragedy of a terrorist attack on American soil. Director Peter Berg was also an iffy sign. While he's done very well recently with true stories of American heroes with Lone Survivor and Deepwater Horizon, he's also spawned movies like Battleship and The Kingdom... you know, movies that are extremely #MERICA. However, as insensitive as the movie appears to be from the surface, the final product is something that not only honors the heroes and the victims of this tragedy, but goes out of its way to show why the movie was, in fact, crucial to what's happening in the country right now.
We all remember the story. It was a beautiful day in April of 2013 and the Boston Marathon had commenced. Near the end of the marathon, two extremist brothers set off pressure cooker bombs near the finish line that killed three people and significantly injured more than 250 others. What took place in the next four days is a story of courage, love, hope and inspiration. Mark Wahlberg plays the fictional Tommy Saunders, a Boston native assigned to the area surrounding the finish line-- his job is to essentially run a smooth end to the race and take care of the drunks that stumble around disrupting the day. However, when brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarneav (Alex Wolff and Themo Melikidze) set off the bombs, hundred of people are severely injured, and three are killed-- including a six-year-old boy. Hundreds of runners and spectators and police rush to the aid of the wounded and band together as a city to not only help, but law enforcement and city officials jump to action immediately to catch the terrorists and give Boston back their city.
The film is populated with familiar faces-- John Goodman as Commissioner Ed Davis, J.K. Simmons as Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese, Kevin Bacon as FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers, Michelle Monaghan as Tommy's wife Carol, etc. All doing their part within the film to depict their real life characters as real life heroes, as well as participants in the capturing of the brothers. Hell, even Sergeant Pugliese was personally involved in the huge shootout on Boston city streets with the brothers and had a pivotal role in bringing down one of the two. And while we already know most of the story (there were moments I was even unaware of such as the murder of an MIT security guard and the kidnapping of a Chinese student), it doesn't take away from the events created solely out of hate by two misguided and evil individuals-- one of which was fucking 19 years old.
For me personally, the first half of the film was incredibly difficult to watch. I'm a connoseur of all films, but I particularly love action films and horror films. Blood and guts and carnage and murder and all the "bad" in these films don't bother me on either an emotional or a visceral level because deep down I know that it's fake. And while I do realize that everything I watched on screen for Patriots Day was, in fact, fake as well... it's wholly based in reality. This really happened. One of the reasons it was so difficult is that we get the backstories of some of the victims. We get to see real life couple Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky before they arrive at the event. They're any one of us. They're all of us. They're young, innocent bystanders living a normal life who both tragically lost legs due to the senselessness of the day. Watching the victims of this tragedy get killed, or lose limbs, or sit back and watch their children or parents injured was all too real and emotionally draining. Before watching the film, I had it in my mind that these scenes were going to be emotionally manipulative, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. When it enters your mind that these are real, honest, and innocent people-- it's hard to keep the emotions inside of you from taking over entirely. It's hard to wrap your mind around the fact that there are truly ugly people in this world and the despicable acts they commit, all in the name of senselessness, are very real and especially disheartening.
One of the reasons, too, that I believe the movie, and these scenes especially, resonated so deeply within me is the quality of the writing of the script and the portrayal of the characters. The tackling of the script for the film, plot wise, was delicate to begin with, but the dialogue and the actors are so authentic that you forget you're watching a movie. There are no huge scenes of "action" where the impossible heroes perform impossible feats without a scratch. And though there is a long shootout (which really happened), it's all done realistically. Hell, you have Mark Wahlberg in the beginning trying to kick down a door to arrest someone, and the entire rest of the movie the dude has a limp. He's injured-- because he's human-- just like everyone else in the film. It's not exploitative in the least. In fact, every scene serves to honor everyone involved, including the city of Boston.
The last element this film has going for it is it's message of courage and hope, especially right now. If your perceived outlook on this country right now is one lacking in hope, this film provides that boost of optimism we all could really use right now. There will always be people in this world out to destroy this hope in all facets of life, but when the shit hits the fan, we will always be able to see the good in people. Love will prevail in the face of hate and people and communities will stand together to see hate brought to its knees. And while I realize this does sound somewhat preachy, Patriots Day handles this image and this message with aplomb. It's definitely a film worth seeing because it accomplishes so much beyond the story that it sets out to tell. And I'm telling you right now... you can try as hard as you possibly can until there is a vein popping out of your forehead... you absolutely will ugly cry at the end of this film.
B+
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