Review of Patriots Day (2016) by Dunlop13 — 23 Dec 2016

I honestly believed that Berg was sincere when he said he wanted to make an honest and respectful film about the the bombings at the Boston Marathon. As a born and raised Bostonian, I was very suspicious of this New Yorker who had a penchant for over the top action films, taking on this highly sensitive topic.

But with Walberg on board, I thought that the native influence would would reel in any ambition to turn this into a Transformers sequel. Unfortunately, Mark Walberg, just like his director, are more interested in generating big revenue through big explosions and falsely generated drama than telling the poignant, restrained and honest version of what really happened to our city during that week.

If you are not from Boston, you will probably find this film entertaining, which is exactly what the producers wanted. But to the citizens of Boston, the real life bystanders and witnesses of all the incidents, and to all the victims, this a not a respectful film. It exploits our connected trauma to generate big box office receipts.

Berg and Walberg have turned this painful event into a Jason Bourne movie. By the way Mark, don't bother coming back to Boston. You are all the way "Hollywood".