PATRIOTS DAY  3.2 ****

        Widely known for sponsoring the oldest annual marathon in the world, the city of Boston took a devastating hit on 'Patriots' Day', 15th April 2013, from coordinated attacks by two home grown terrorists. The movie’s narrative follows the chronology of the events starting from the early hours of that fateful day. We see loved ones saying their goodbyes like any other day; some are runners getting ready for the marathon, while others are law enforcement or the onlookers who will be at the now famous Boylston Street where the explosions occurred.. While this is happening, we are also shown the Tsarnaev brothers who would perpetrate the attacks. Revealing their identities quite early in the film is a way to create a foreboding sense of what is about to happen.  Scarier than seeing them pack pressure-cooker bombs into their backpacks is the vague explanation behind the attack. Rather than explore that  the movie focuses is on the bloody and horrific aftermath of the explosions and the subsequent investigation.

What then follows is a tense manhunt for the brothers even as law enforcement teams are put through the arduous task of examining tons of video footage. There are so many scenes that are gems: Saunders ( Wahlberg) walking a reconstruction of the crime scene to help identify the stores and buildings with  video cameras; an escape by the young driver whose car is hi-jacked by the two brothers; and the explosive gun-fight showdown on  a residential street where one brother is killed and the other wounded.. The movie never glamourizes any party but simply lays out the facts in the real chronology.. The movie recreates the events faithfully with the melodrama  dialed down and so the light never fails to shine on the people of Boston and law enforcement, the real heroes of the tragedy. 

The actors include Mark Wahlberg and J.K. Simmons as police officers, John Goodman as the police commissioner and Kevin Bacon representing the FBI. Though Wahlberg appears in many scenes through-out the film, his Officer Tommy Saunders is the only character who isn't a real person.  So why does Wahlberg play a fictional character when the film is based on an actual event?  Well Wahlberg's Saunders represents a dramatized combination of the law enforcement and the Boston public who responded in unity to help find and capture  the terrorists. Besides, Wahlberg is a real Bostonian and adds authenticity to the character.

Rated ”R” for violence, realistically graphic injury images, and some language.

Clark