Now they are back with a third film together, and this one is about the bombings at the 2013 Boston Marathon. I clearly remember them happening, and it was truly shocking seeing something actually happen rather than seeing the devastation afterwards.
But with Berg clearly being well suited to this of genre, then you would expect another great addition to his pretty solid filmography. In the end, you get exactly that.
It has a very procedural structure that works well to this kind of story. The level of tension and emotion is built up nicely, and it manages to maintain that throughout. I liked the clever mix of their own filming with the actual footage from the event itself in some sections. That for me gave the film a lot of realism that will help it age well on multiple viewings.
But what I think is its biggest strength is that it manages to do the right things at the right time. It is tense and exciting when it needed to be as well as being moving, emotional and even shocking. From a personal point of view, there were nice uses of showing the Boston Red Sox. I am big Baseball fan and those moments certainly made me smile.
Wahlberg was great as always as the lead. He was strong, believable in that role and it felt like I was watching a character and not Marky Mark himself.
There were lots of star studded cast members in the supporting roles, which reminded me of something like 'The Towering Inferno'. It was great to see Kevin Bacon in a supporting role. For me, Bacon is at his best when he is the villain or one of the main supports for the antagonist. This further proves that statement. John Goodman was solid despite not that much screen time. Another one is J.K Simmons. While his character was purposely not shown that much. I did not see the point of casting Simmons for a role you know is not going to be in many scenes.
All the other supporting cast did a good job. They never felt the generic type of characters you would expect in something like a Roland Emmerich disaster blockbuster. They felt like real people with genuine stories.
Berg looks to have found his wheelhouse, his main strength, his party piece. Whatever you want to call it, this film shows how well Berg can deliver on a tragic American true story. I mentioned 'The Towering Inferno' before, and I think Berg has become this generations John Guillermin.
It will be interesting if Berg finds another tragic true story that can be portrayed well on screen. If not, then I hope he dips into something new and more challenging, and yet still get excited about.
I will understand from people if they think this is lazy film-making as it is more of the same. But the execution of film-making and story-telling being of such high quality, it is hard to ignore how really good this film is.
It is a great portrayal of the events, it never Hollywoodizes itself and the performances are strong and will keep up gripped. As mentioned earlier, what Berg does best is getting to that emotional level and maintaining it throughout. It might not get you bawling your eyes out. But it can certainly get you welling up.
With Deepwater Horizon still being fairly fresh in the memory as it came out five months ago, it is hard to see which one is better. I think I will give the edge to Patriots Day, as it kept that emotional level for longer and much earlier in the film compared to Deepwater Horizon.
If you liked Lone Survivor and Deepwater Horizon, then expect more of the same.
Rating: 8/10
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