One goes into
Patriots Day with a certain expectation of what they believe will be delivered to them. We're all familiar with the story. Heck, if you're of legal age to see an R-rated film in theaters (meaning this one) then you were at least fourteen when the Boston Marathon bombing happened on April 13th, 2013. There is this expectation that the film will take us through these events we're already familiar with adding the caveat of getting to better know some of the individuals involved. When it becomes apparent what director Peter Berg (
Lone Survivor, Deepwater Horizon) is doing though, it's not difficult to realize this is going to leave a greater mark than expected. With
Patriots Day, much like with his previous two efforts with Mark Wahlberg, Berg has crafted a narrative around recent history that could very easily have been a kind of simple procedural; taking us through the day's events step by step and doing little more than adding a personal aspect to a story the whole world has already heard, but rather than allow this lack of time or perspective to hinder his film Berg allows this immediacy to relate to who he knows will make up his audience in stirring, emotional ways. There is a tinge of jingoism that builds throughout the film and becomes what is probably too obvious by the time Berg tags his film with interviews with the real life people we've just seen portrayed on screen, but that doesn't mean it isn't effective. It's a bit much, extreme even, but it works in the films favor more than it doesn't. It is in how much
Patriots Day ultimately moves its audience not by simply taking us through the moments, but rather by expertly crafting a narrative around key individuals and bringing each together until they are tied in unison; some in expected and others in genuinely surprising ways. It is not so much what is being conveyed, but how the context of such moments is set-up and carried through that make the emotional heft of this thing as great as it ends up being-and it can be a tough one. The film does have its shortcomings-mostly in that it fails to better characterize its antagonists instead painting them as monsters, and deservedly so, but with no insight into their mentality or personal justification we are led to believe we should lump them into the Muslim stereotype that has become associated purely with terrorism. This stereotype can certainly prove true, but if you're making a whole movie around the reactions to these guys actions then we need a slightly more perceptive take on them. The movie also runs just a tad too long. At two hours and thirteen minutes
Patriots Day begins to show its running time in the third act when the momentum slightly stalls and we feel the otherwise expertly structured film unravel just a bit.
