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‘Patriots Day’ review: A serviceable tribute

Considering “Deepwater Horizon” came out just a few months ago, we weren’t exactly hurting for another story of working man Mark Wahlberg kissing his beautiful wife goodbye before he unknowingly heads off into a real-life tragedy. But “Patriots Day”—a film about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing directed and co-written by Peter Berg—isn’t really about one man. It weaves together slices of life on that fateful day, never digging into characters but instead presenting a portrait of Boston as a living entity.

What happens?

We spend some time with ordinary people whose lives will be affected by the attack—a married couple, a young MIT police officer, a Chinese student, the terrorists themselves. They joke and flirt and call each other “chowdaheads,” all preparing for a day revolving around the marathon. Sergeant Tommy Saunders (Wahlberg) is placed on duty at the finish line and finds himself in the middle of the action when the bombs go off. From there, we spend time with fictionalized versions of real people who answered the call of duty when their city was in jeopardy.

What’s good?

It’s amazing how effective the buildup of the explosion is considering everyone is aware of what’s coming. Berg layers sounds and images to capture the chaos of the scene, from his own shaky handheld camera to security footage to media images. The intertwining stories of those affected demonstrate the scope of this story—it left no part of the city untouched. And though “Patriots Day” is plagued by the requisite cheese, it remains remarkably apolitical, preferring to present a black and white battle of good vs. evil rather than muddle in the complicated shades of gray. All about the Boston love, the film avoids the head and goes straight for the heart.

What’s bad?

Many of the characters in this film are based on real people (who are interviewed in a lovely segment at the end), but Wahlberg’s Tommy is fictional. What a shame, then, that he gets the majority of the emotional scenes, which ring false because they are. He has two tearful monologues and a completely bizarre scene in which he’s called in to recreate which stores on the street have security cameras, as if that information wouldn’t be readily available from a source besides a man whose only genius is how well he knows Boston.

Final verdict

When you simplify everything to its absolute root, being a patriot is easy and unmarred by politics. “Patriots Day” is happy to make that point.

3 stars (out of four)

@lchval | laurenchval@redeyechicago.com