When Reality Becomes Fiction

I have to begin this review by admitting that I am not particularly a fan of movies based on real life tragedies . Now I understand that in some cases it can be a good way of bringing the true horror of a situation to an audience who may not have taken an interest in it on an historical basis (think bringing the horrors of the Battle of Normandy to those who may not have read about the war but who are fans of Tom Hanks), but for me it can at times be used as a way to push an agenda and force feed the audience the awesomeness of the good old USA (World Trade Centre I'm looking at you).

Another issue that can arise around these types of films is their close proximity to the events that they depict. Take the aforementioned World Trade Centre for example, a film that along with United 93 was released in 2006, a mere five years after the terrorist attack that saw the Twin Towers fall and over 3000 people die. Now five years may seem like a long time but emotions were (and for some still are) incredibly raw at the time and so when Oliver Stone put out his Nicolas Cage vehicle (the starring role in itself was a huge mistake but thats a whole different post) it had to be completely on point, when it wasn't it received almost universally bad reviews.

This brings me to Patriots Day which is the latest film by Peter Berg, an actor turned director who has the likes of Hancock and Very Bad Things on his resume and who in the last 12 months has seen both Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day released. Patriots Day is of course based on the Boston Bombing which only took place in 2013 so is still fresh in the minds of those who lived it and the country as a whole, especially in the current environment of global terrorism.

For anyone who doesn't know about that day two brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev took it upon themselves to detonate two bombs amid the crowd who were out en-masse to watch the Boston Marathon which was taking place that day (April 15th). There was then a huge manhunt for the two of them as parts of the city were put on lockdown, this resulted in a huge gun battle which saw Tamerian shot several times before being run over by his brother as he made his escape, he would die shortly after. Dzhokhar was eventually captured and two years later sentenced to death.

So to the film which stars Mark Whalberg as police officer Tommy Saunders and among others also features John Goodman and Kevin Bacon. Now before I go on I have to say that Wahlbergs character is my main bone of contention with this film and it is something that has been done before in movies and is something that I do not particularly agree with . What am I talking about? The creation of a person who was never involved in the events that happened because they are not real. In this case Saunders is the amalgamation of several different real life police officers who's actions helped victims as well as assisting in bringing the fugitive to justice.

I am sure that the people behind Patriots Day have their reasons for creating one character to replace many actual people but it is not something that I care for and in my opinion it detracts from the impact of the story they are trying to tell. Again though this is just me and I know that there are many who will disagree.

The film opens by introducing us to the fictitious Saunders and giving us just enough of his backstory to let us feel invested in what he is about to go through. Before long we jump to the actual bombings themselves which of course in turn lead us to the hunt, the shootout and finally the capture all of which are shown in a mix of what we saw happen on the news and what the film maker envisages the other parts of the evening where like.

In showing the film from the perspective of the imaginary officer we get a sense of the panic that must have been felt within the city as the events unfolded but at the same time it does suffer somewhat from whole lets show how great America is syndrome that I mentioned at the beginning of this review. What the film fails to do is address any of the reasons behind the brothers actions. We literally see a brief scene or two of them planning the day ahead, and we are led to believe that Dzhokhar is being led down a dark path by his older brother, this is basically what he claimed during questioning following his arrest.

Other than that all we get is their path of destruction and no effort whatsoever is made to see any part of what happened from their point of view. Now don't get me wrong I in no way justifying what they did or saying that their ideology deserves any sort of credit at all but by brushing over it so nonchalantly the film makers fall into the age old trap of we are right and they are wrong. Of course anyone who commits an act of terror is wrong but it is our failure to even attempt to understand the root causes that add fuel to the fires that are burning around the world at this time.

Political musings aside Patriots Day is not a bad film it just all feels so unnecessary, I mean was anyone actually crying out for a film about the bombings to be made? I can't say for sure but I'm guessing probably not and even adding brief testimonials from those who actually lived through it adds nothing to the overall effectiveness of the movie.

As for the performances, they too are perfectly servicable. Wahlberg is Wahlberg which is good if you're a fan and Goodman is his usual dependable self (except for his ropey Boston accent) but as I've already said the whole thing just seems incredibly pointless.

Score time now and whilst Patriots Day is good in the way it is shot and acted I cannot get away from its one sided nature or the fact that it doesn't need to exist so I will give it 7 out of 10.