Review of Patriots Day (2016) by Teddy F — 23 Jan 2017

Peter Berg's true story follow-up to Deepwater Horizon is a success, and makes me think that he and Mark Wahlberg should keep working together.

Although I feel that Deepwater Horizon was a more interesting film to watch with more build up and a longer climax, Patriot's Day can be more emotionally provoking. As you watch the characters (or real people depictions) you feel bad for them before any bombs go off because you see they're happy and all together and then you know the following events are going to change them forever; putting them in a place you don't want to see them in. Once again, Berg fails to disappoint as he hooked me in, made me care for the characters, and then pumped me up at the end. The actors and actresses for all the roles did a fine job, nothing Oscar worthy but did what they needed to portray these real-life figures. It is intense when it needs to be, motivational when it needs to be, brutal when it needs to be, all while simply following what happened. My favorite scenes have to be the chase for the brothers as they were intense made you pay attention to every move; you wanted to see what would happen next. Now I'm not a Bostonian so I'll never quite understand what it was like being there on that day, but you don't need to be to have this movie impact you. I like how they intertwined actual footage with the film to allow you to compare the movie to the real thing. I think the biggest flaw with the movie must be that, at the end of day, you'll probably, no matter how much you liked the movie, not watch it again. It is one of those movies that you can only see once. It is also not a movie that is going to wow you with its camera shots or some glorious musical score. It just revolves around paying remembrance to the victims of this tragedy and telling stories that you might not have heard of when these events were occurring. The people who feel it was too recent ago just give it a shot, you might just change your mind by the time credits roll in.