Patriots Day (Peter Berg, December 21st 2016) Movie

An account of the Boston Marathon bombing, PATRIOTS DAY is the powerful story of a community’s courage in the face of terror.

In the aftermath of an unspeakable attack, Police Sergeant Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg) joins courageous survivors, first responders and investigators in a race against the clock to hunt down the bombers before they strike again. Weaving together the stories of Special Agent Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon), Police Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman), Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese (J.K. Simmons) and nurse Carol Saunders (Michelle Monaghan) this visceral and unflinching chronicle captures the suspense of one of the most sophisticated manhunts in law enforcement history and celebrates the strength of the people of Boston.

scored by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

is this too soon? yeah probably
should Mark Wahlberg be starring in this after his insensitive 9/11 comments?
probably not Mark Wahlberg Is Pretty Sure He Could Have Stopped 9/11 [Updated]

 

Berg and Wahlberg are just cashing in on all these recent events, eh? Lone Survivor (well this one isn't that recent), Deepwater Horizon, Patriots Day.

As a critic review on RT said:
Berg and Wahlberg were among the first to realize you can make big money in Hollywood's fastest-growing niche: the docbuster, which spins a recent disaster into a bombastic action flick

 

Don't forget Battleship.

 

That quote from Mark about 9/11 is so ridiculous, does he think he's an action hero in real life too?

I like a lot of Peter Berg's movies, esp Very Bad Things and The Rundown. I do agree though I wish he'd get away from these true life tragic events turned action movie though.

 

I'll watch just for the Ross/Reznor score. Everything they've collaborated on so far has been magnificent.

 

This hits close to home (literally), I think it's gonna be emotional, to say the least.

 

This leaves a pretty horrible taste in my mouth

 

Yeah the whole cashing in on a recent disaster feels pretty tasteless.

 

Lol @ "it's terrorism"

 

I finally realized who Mark Whalberg reminds me of.
He's actual real life Mac.

 

What Peter Berg can truly capture (which can be said for now all of his past three films now) is the human spirit. As much as it’s hard to admit this, Patriots Day does, in fact, brings out the true American patriot out of you. There hasn’t been a film that made you go AMERICA! since Zero Dark Thirty, and even before then Team America. The film is the perfect portrayal of the American spirit whether you like it or not. It’s a film that will split the audience down the middle for some might come out contemplating if living in Trump’s America may or may not be a bad thing. All the humanity shown in Berg’s previous films is applied to this even more so than Deepwater Horizon at times.
Patriot's Day Review

 

It's about as bland as you would expect, with some shitty "Fuck yeah, Boston!" dialogue for good measure. Movie just couldn't help itself.

 

I don't know if this film is necessary right now. And this is coming from someone that was a part of this tragedy.

 

It's not. I caught a documentary about the tragedy on HBO and after seeing that this movie doesn't need to be made.

 

After the race, being that I was one of the few people from Reno who ran it, I was pestered by the media to give interviews and such. It was strange to deal with. It opened my eyes a bit. One of the other guys who ran it from here pretty much refused to talk to the media.

This is damn near exploitation being only three years removed from it.

 

It's definitely exploitation. Profits should be donated to a charity or the victims families or something.

 

Patriots Day | Film Review | Slant Magazine

 

I doubt I'll be seeing this but I have mixed feelings on its existence overall. Real life tragedy is made into narrative film all the time and this has resulted in incredible movies that I don't think are inherently distasteful. (Zodiac immediately comes to mind.) That, coupled with the way the capture of the terrorist played out in real life makes me neither surprised nor offended that the marathon bombing would be one day made into a movie.

That said, this particular iteration doesn't feel right, in both its too-soonness and the feeling that its a Mark Wahlberg vanity piece. I'm not sure when it would be appropriate (nor obvious ways in which it could be a hollywood film without succumbing to the things that make this one uncomfortable even in trailer form).

 

Been listening to the score for weeks now, and the positive reviews make me feel like taking a chance on this film after all.

Thanks for mentioning this. I wasn't aware there was a doc for this available on HBO. Watching today.

 

I found this to be a really incredible movie. I understand why some people may find this exploitive from the outside, but the story is handled in such a careful/respectful way and the people featured obviously support the project so I don't think many people will see it as exploitive/cash grab after seeing it. The too-soonness will be different for everyone though so that's up to each audience member. I think this will act as a great gateway for people to look into this story more. I know I personally really want to see that documentary about this now as there was a lot of things I didn't know about the investigation and people involved, even though while it was happening I was following it in depth. I remember being in my dorm room that night watching CNN, following the events in Watertown on Reddit and Twitter so seeing those events and learning more about them and connecting it to what i was seeing was very interesting.

 

This was whatever. Didn't say anything that needed to be said.

 

Is Peter Berg's next disaster film going to be about the election?

 

Mark Walberg as Trump

 

This movie was very good. Hard to watch, being from here. But Berg's getting a bit of a signature style now and I'm a fan of it. The shootout had as much nail-biting tension as any big-budget action movie while staying grounded in reality, which was also a strength of Deepwater Horizon.

And I can see Bostonians thinking this is too soon to watch, but it makes me grind my teeth seeing anyone not from here weighing in on whether it is or isn't too soon.