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Laramie Movie Scope: Patriots Day

A series of unfortunate dramatic events

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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January 14, 2017 -- This drama shows the response of a great city to a tragic event, the terrorist bombings of the 2013 Boston Marathon on Boylston Street on the Massachusetts holiday, Patriots Day, April 15. It doesn't really dramatize the event since it is already dramatic enough. Like a disaster film, it introduces us early on to some characters who play a key role in the bombings, the victims, the investigators and the bombers themselves.

Most of these characters are based on real people, but the main character, Boston Police Sergeant Tommy Saunders (played by Mark Wahlberg) is a composite of various Boston area policemen. Saunders as a character is not only present at the site of the explosion, but also at key sites in the manhunt and capture of the bombers. He serves as the audience guide to the fabric of the story. Wahlberg is a native of the Boston suburb of Dorchester. The film's director, Peter Berg also directed two previous based-on-fact action dramas starring Wahlberg, “Lone Survivor” and “Deepwater Horizon.”

The introduction of characters before the bomb blasts includes Saunders' wife, Carol (Michelle Monaghan of “Source Code”) Watertown Police Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese (J.K. Simmons of “The Accountant”) FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon of “Black Mass”) car jacking victim Dun Meng (Jimmy O. Yang) and the bombers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (Alex Wolff) and Tamerlan Tsarnaev (Themo Melikidze) as well as Tamerlan Tsarnaev's wife, Katherine Russell (Melissa Benoist, now playing the title character of the TV series “Supergirl”). We follow these characters, and some of the victims as well through the bombing and the following investigation and capture of the bombers.

It appears much of the camera work in the film, even in the early scenes, is done with hand held cameras. This works well for the action scenes, giving the film a documentary feel of immediacy, but it seemed out of place in other scenes, calling attention to itself, making it hard to ignore the wobbling camera shots and taking me outside the story.

The standard disaster film plot, combined with the police investigation plot, works well for this film, and the actors are convincing. Wahlberg, especially gives a fine performance, not only as a man determined to catch the bombers, but he shows irritation, regret, pain, emotional distress and anguish at various times in the movie. John Goodman (“10 Cloverfield Lane”) is also effective as Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, who is frustrated by the pace of the FBI investigation.

The great Red Sox Baseball player, David Ortiz, recreates part of his famous, defiant “This is our fucking city speech” at Fenway Park in the film. The Red Sox adopted the “Boston Strong” motto, which became an inspirational rallying cry for the city, and the team, which went on to win an emotional world championship that year, helping to heal Boston.

The quick response by police, the FBI, city and state officials, including Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts (Michael Beach) helped to catch the bombers, who had planned to attack New York City next. Boston's world class medical facilities and fast medical responders also helped to keep the number of deaths down.

This is very much a film about Boston and how its people came together to respond, in a very positive way, to a terrible tragedy. The message of the film is that Boston people are strong, and this event made them even stronger. It says that people responded to hate with determination, courage and love. The depiction of the bombing itself is almost too effective, as is the murder of MIT policeman Sean A. Collier (Jake Picking) and the violent shootout between police and the bombers in Watertown, Mass. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2017 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)