By Emilio Frenk.
Director: Peter Berg
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, John Goodman, J.K. Simmons, Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan, Jack Picking, Alex Wolff, Themo Melikidze and Melissa Benoist.
Rating: Excellent.
Peter Berg, director of “Lone Survivor” and “Deepwater Horizon” team up for the third time with Mark Wahlberg and made his second movie of 2016. He brings “Patriots Day” and the movie brings fantastic results.
Based in real life events, “Patriots Day” tells the story of Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg) a Boston Police Sergeant who at April 15 of 2013 during the Boston Marathon, which takes place at the celebration of Patriots Day, witnesses a bombing that took place near the finish line at Boylston Street in Boston Massachusetts. This event will be known in the world as The Boston Bombings.
Now he will work Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman) and Special Agent of the FBI Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon) in one of the largest manhunts in American History.
“Patriots Day” is a movie that is very well told and tells every single detail of the event and broke it into very wisely in three parts: previous of the marathon, during the marathon and afterwards.
The movie is being told by the Point of View of both the Law, The Terrorists and Victims during the attack despite the main character in this case is Tommy Saunders, played by Mark Wahlberg. Berg used very well this advantages and made the correct choices of this elements.
The script which also Berg wrote with Matt Cook and Joshua Zetumer is written with a lot of detail, precision and I was surprised of the amount of research that the filmmakers invested in the screenplay and the results indeed paid off.
Peter Berg’s directing is brilliant. Both the acting and technical sides he knew how to handle it perfectly and the cast delivered fantastic performances, including Mark Wahlberg who gave a remarkable one.
I can tell that “Patriots Day” is so far Peter Berg´s most challenging film and the working collaboration between him and Wahlberg has given tremendous results. Since they worked together in 2013 with “Lone Survivor” have been very successful and I think they could be the next Scorsese/De Niro duo in Hollywood.
The score composed by Academy Award Winners: Lead Singer of Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is a great piece of music.
The music cues that were used in the most important scenes of the movie worked and it’s both engaging and at the same time takes you to the edge of your seat.
Peter Berg was really smart in combining both genres in “Patriots Day”. He is a director who knows how to play with the audience and he knew how to use those elements of surprise in this film.
Before you see “Patriots Day” I encourage you to be prepared and read more about the Boston Bombings since it´s a very interesting topic. It`s very violent and realistic and be open for that as well.
I consider “Patriots Day” Peter Berg´s most ambitious movie of his career and once again he is at his prime with this picture.
I consider “Patriot’s Day” one of the best films of 2016 and a highly recommend it.
I invite you to leave your comments at emilio.frenk@gmail.com or my twitter @FrenkEmilio.