Review of Patriots Day (2016) by Thomas D — 20 Jan 2017

Patriots Day recounts the horrifying bombings at the 2013 Boston Marathon with great care for the details: the chaotic confusion, the shocking violence, the individual personhood of those affected, even the necessary moments of levity. On the other hand, it's also very Hollywood: the passionate speeches about terrorism, the well-meaning proselytizing about down-home patriotism, even a potentially dangerous representation of Muslims. With a message about communal-love-overcoming-hate that's never fully realized, its thematically desperate American milquetoast. However, it's well-made thematically desperate American milquetoast, and sometimes that's good enough.

Director Berg (last year's fantastic Deepwater Horizon) is an undeniably talented stylist. His cinema verite camera fits his modern historical dramas well, especially here, when seamlessly mixed with the staggering documentary footage. The R-rating gives him the necessary space to allow the effective action and authentic language to carry the intended naturalism. Unfortunately, for all the reality in the engaging and human thrills (especially during the manhunt), we're bombarded with some super lame dialogue full of exposition & preachifying, leaving us feeling talked at instead of engaged with.

This dramatic opportunism can often be the inherent difficulty with dramatizing such recent, well-known history. We bring our own fresh memories, political leanings, and personal feelings to each moment, making our criticism more vehement. To Berg's credit, he mostly sidesteps the bigger problems of this sub-genre by focusing on multiple specific characters directly affected by the tragedy. So while its aims to reach wide left the film feeling shallow, Patriots Day's procedural suspense & refreshing flow of the story make this a movie worth taking your dad to.