Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Patriots Day’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

I’ve often approached films that are ‘based on a true story’ with a sense of detachment. Simply because of the fact that whether you like it or not, facts and events are always changed around when a film such as this arrives on the big screen, so as to provide the audience with an utterly entertaining experience, and while that’s not a bad thing, because Hollywood is Hollywood…it has prompted me to be a touch more selective when it comes to motion pictures grounded in reality.
 
Because despite the fact that glossing over the hard details is often the status quo, there are incredible movies to be found that truly encapsulate a person’s life or a series of moments and those are the stories that I seek out because the experience and power of those particular slices of life are sometimes what make cinema one of the most powerful storytelling tools out there and recently, I finally had the chance to see a film, that I originally missed in theaters, that is indeed a powerful and realistic re-telling of a dark chapter in American History in Patriots Day. 
 
Now the plot of this motion picture is in essence a grand re-telling of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing and well…truthfully speaking, the plot is immaterial since it takes a backseat to the human condition. Because it’s clear that director Peter Berg didn’t want to do a ‘by the numbers’ general re-hashing of this harrowing event, he wanted to truly take the audience into the moment itself and allow for us to experience the horror and the triumph of everything that happened when it came to this attack and when all is said and done, Mister Berg accomplished his mission. 

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In fact, the push to make this story as realistic as possible is something that I truly appreciated. There’s a fair amount of the ‘mundane’ early on in the film which is in no way designed to bore or draw you out of the story. Instead this serves as a brilliant storytelling device, one that allows for the audience to instantly relate to the characters since hey, mundane is where we spend most of our time and by using such a device that early into the movie…it makes the actual bombing all the more terrifying. Suddenly you are plunged into a waking nightmare, one that holds nothing back when it comes to the injuries and the fear that people suffered through on this tragic day.
 
But what truly sets Patriots Day apart from other films in this vein, is the sheer hopefulness that comes out of the story’s darkest moments. Because once we are past the horrors of the attack, there’s real beauty to be found in seeing so many people band together to find the men responsible for this atrocity, and despite a few road bumps, there’s true unity and a sense that good triumphs over evil and it makes the finale of this film all the more satisfying as you bear witness to justice being served.
 
It’s a poignant film, one that not only chronicles a dark day in our nation’s history and the power that such events have over us, but it’s also one that reminds us that despite the worst intentions of awful people, they can never overcome the wonders we can achieve when we band together. If anything, this is truly a must-see film for all of the reasons that I’ve outlined so far, but also because it is a wonderful way to honor those who were lost on this tragic day by keeping their memory alive.

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