Review: 'Patriots Day' is long but surprisingly exciting

Secret ending? No.

Running time: 133 minutes (~2.25 hours)

"Patriots Day” is a semi-biographical thriller based on the book “Boston Strong”.

It is about the Boston Marathon bombing and the manhunt for the bombers after that. It shows us the events from the perspective of the law enforcement officers and the bombers.

“Patriots Day” is directed by Peter Berg. The screenplay is by Berg, Matt Cook, and Joshua Zetumer, and the story is by Berg, Matt Cook, Paul Tamasy, and Eric Johnson. It stars Mark Wahlberg (Tommy Saunders), John Goodman (Ed Davis), J. K. Simmons (Jeffrey Pugliese), Vincent Curatola (Thomas Menino), Kevin Bacon (Richard DesLauriers), Alex Wolff (Dzhokhar Tsarnaev), Themo Melikidze (Tamerlan Tsarnaev), Jimmy O. Yang (Dun Meng), with a cameo by Melissa Benoist (Katherine Russell). It is rated M-18.

"Patriots Day" sees Mark Wahlberg starring in another biographical film, and of course, saving the day again. While it may sound boring (let's be honest, biographical films usually tend to be), the film spins a pretty good yarn through its dramatisation of choice events and focus on the macro and micro aspects of the Boston bombings. It’s one of the better dramatisations of real life events to have been made recently.

Highlights

Gruesome injuries

"Patriots Day" sears the damage a bomb can do into your brain with horrific close-ups and agonising depictions of the injuries suffered by the bystanders. It's not just bloody carnage, because you sometimes see exposed sections of flesh and other undeterminable parts of the human body that only serve to stir the imagination. If the aim of the film was to act as a deterrent for would-be bombers by showing them how much innocent people suffer as a result of their actions, then it's fulfilled this purpose painfully.

Attention to detail

After the bombings, the rest of the film is devoted to the escape and subsequent capture of the two perpetrators. "Patriots Day" doesn't just focus on the stars of the show, but it also takes the time to show how the bombings have impacted the Everyman and their reactions to it. Small details like delirious victims asking about their loves ones as they are wheeled in are peppered throughout the film, showing us the devastation on the personal lives of the citizens. It's reinforced by a series of tributes and interviews of the survivors of the bombing at the end of the film, and serves well as a reminder of those who passed on in the disaster.

Tension and excitement despite being a biographical film

Surprisingly, there was a good deal of excitement in the film. The issue with biographical films is that you generally know how the story will play out, since if you're interested in the film's subject matter, you'd have gone on to read up about it. Despite knowing how it would all end (it's not like you don't know what the fate of the two bombers will be), there are moments where you truly fear for the lives of the protagonists, even though logically you'd expect them to survive. Generating this tension is an impressive feat for "Patriots Day".

Letdowns

Handheld camera work can get nauseating

The jerky, handheld camera work adds to the realism of the film, but it goes overboard many times. Sometimes, you just want to get a handle on what's happening in a scene before the camera starts flying around and zooming in on choice shots. The director doesn't always give you that, and the speed at which the camera moves can be vomit-inducing. Dialling it down would have given more clarity and made the film visually more impactful too (you can't really feel for the shots if you're about to hurl).

Repetitive at times

"Patriots Day" is long, clocking in at over two hours. Even discounting the documentary segment at the end, the run time is pretty hefty. Many scenes are repetitive, perhaps to drive home the point, perhaps to give a balance between scenes of the protagonists and stories about the average person. It doesn't feel like it's padding out the story, but it does feel like it retreads the same beats too many times.

Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Okay.

Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? No.

Score: 2.9/5

"Patriots Day" opens in cinemas:
– 12 January, 2017 (Singapore)
– 11 January, 2017 (Philippines)

Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He's also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.