Sorry, this movie sucks

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Hollywood is founded upon the idea of producing films that entertain audiences and make money. At the end of the day it is always about the money. An unfortunate, and frankly sickening, side effect of this cornerstone of entertainment is that when tragedy strikes, often times there is a film made about said tragedy. While some involved are I'm sure simply looking to honor the memories of those lost and do justice in telling their story, more often than not the events the film is based upon are embellished and glamorized. This is not the case of this film. This film does an amazing job of presenting the audience with the main characters, their families, motivations, faults and immediately make the audience connect and care for the characters. Mark Wahlberg gives one of the best and most versatile performances of his career as Boston cop Tommy Saunders, a man with his fair share of faults but with a heart of a servant who wants to protect his family and the city of Boston as a whole. Supported by a talented secondary cast led by John Goodman, Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan, and J.K. Simmons as well as early performances of up-and-coming stars Lana Condor and Alex Wolff, this film's casting director did a great job of finding those who actually look like their real-life counterparts. Another aspect of this film that director Peter Berg did well was the building of tension in each scene. Through sound, camera movement and angles, and lighting, as each moment passed, the tension grew and I was hooked in from the beginning. A testament to filmmaking done right, Patriots Day is a patriotic film that goes against the Hollywood norm and tells this true story faithfully and honoring all of those involved.

Brilliant film, informed me so well about the true events. It was both interesting and moving.

Patriots DayThe emotions depicted in here communicates easily and effectively with the audience but the feature seems scattered into bits and pieces; that are engaging and nail biting, but in terms of a whole package, it isn't concrete as it appears. Peter Berg's execution skills helps sail it smoothly off to the shore, but the real culprit is the adapted screenplay that could have done better with some strict editing. There isn't a protagonist to follow in, hence it relies a lot upon different supporting cast like Mark Wahlberg, J.K. Simmons, Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan, Rachel Brosnan and John Goodman. Patriot's Day is an open love letter to all those real heroes and works like a charm on terms of factual information and accuracy but as far as drama is concerned, it required some more of it.

I want to start out with the positive. Patriots Day was a good reminder to me of what actually happened on that day in Boston. Not being an American, I was certainly aware that the bombing of the Boston Marathon had taken place in 2013 but I can't really say that many of the details of the event and its aftermath had stayed with me, in the way that the 9/11 attacks did. So I had honestly forgotten that the hunt for the bombers extended over several days. I didn't remember the police officer who was ambushed by the bomber several days later. I really didn't remember the almost complete lockdown of parts of the city as the authorities closed in on the bombers. So the film was successful in jogging my memory of the events. The testimonies from actual survivors and from others involved in what happened as the movie came to an end were worthwhile, and the tribute to those who were killed (including a 9 year old boy) were sobering. The chaos portrayed in the immediate aftermath of the bombing came across as realistic. So there were some things that worked here - but the basic problem I had with this was that I just didn't find it especially interesting.In all honesty the first 20-30 minutes of this were painfully dull and had me wondering why I was even bothering to watch this. But beyond that, the primary problem I had was that none of the characters really connected with me at all. The movie kind of moved in a bit of a blur. No one stood out and said to me "I'm the one you need to be watching; I'm the one you need to care about." None of the victims were really followed that closely. We saw a lot of police work going on - but none of the police officers or other officials made a huge impact. Mark Wahlberg's Sgt. Tommy Saunders was supposed to be doing that. He was the main character. The problem was just that, though - he was a character; completely fictional. I'll give the benefit of saying that the character was a composite, but still fictional. So why did I need to know about his wife, or whatever discipline it was he was dealing with as the movie opened? That was totally superfluous - since the guy didn't even exist! And none of the other actors in this really leaped out at me. As the story moved into the hunt for the bombers, there were times when this came across more as an action thriller for entertainment purposes than anything, full of gunfights and little else. I also can't say that I found this especially dramatic. You wait expectantly for the bombs to go off once the movie shifts to the actual Marathon, but aside from that this comes across as kind of flat. There was also no real exploration of the motive of the Tsarnaev brothers, or how they came to the point of wanting to do this.It's a movie that was going to be made. To be honest, it's probably a movie that needed to be made. There were people who deserved to be paid tribute to, and really the entire city should be commended for the way it came together. Those who made this simply needed to do a better job of connecting with the viewer. (3/10)