Release date: Thursday, January 12th, late shows. Official release January 13th.
“Good Vs. Evil. Love Vs. Hate. The only weapon you have to fight back with is love”
A new year, a new set of advanced screenings and a whole lot of new movies. I’ve been looking forward to this movie ever since I heard it was bringing Peter Berg and Mark Whalberg back together so quickly. I was also super interested in the subject of the film and I was counting down the days until I could go see it in theatres after the trailer I saw. Berg and Whalberg recently did Deepwater Horizon last year that was excellent – https://andrewmoviespot.wordpress.com/2016/09/29/deepwater-horizon-advanced-screening-review/ incase you wanted to know my thoughts on Deepwater Horizon heres a direct link to that review.
Patriots Day is a Drama, thriller and history film based on an account of Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis’s actions in the events leading up to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the aftermath, which includes the city-wide manhunt to find the terrorists behind it.
Peter Berg of course is a really talented director. His other films include The Rundown (2003), Friday Night Lights (2004), The Kingdom (2007), Hancock (2008), Lone Survivor (2013), and Deepwater Horizon (2016). Peter Berg’s ability to create intensity lasts throughout the runtime of the film is something to write home about. The movie starts and you’re already on the edge of your seat, and it doesn’t let you go until the credits role and you whip your eyes of tears. Peter Berg is quickly becoming a director to always have on my watch list, as his recent films are just some incredible pieces of film. I haven’t quite seen any movies quite like the way he films his movies. I am extremely intrigued to see what he does next and I certainly hope that he does more based on true event films, as I feel like this is where he really shines. His collaborations with Mark Whalberg are always something special, they’ve already done 3 films together in 3 years, and next year they have another filmed lined up with each other called Mile 22.
The screenplay was written by Peter Berg, Matt Cook (Triple 9 – 2016) and Joshua Zetumer (RoboCop-2014). I cut down the writing this way because to list the filmography would take a really long time, and Cook and Zetumer only have one other writing filmography to their name. The story was written by Peter Berg, Matt Cook, Paul Tamasy (The Fighter – 201 and The Finest Hours – 2016), and Eric Johnson (The Fighter-2010, and The Fightest Hours (2016).
The films stars Mark Whalberg, Michelle Monaghan, J.K. Simmons, and John Goodman.
Mark Whalberg’s filmography consists of The Basketball Diaries (1995), Boogie Nights (1997), The Italian Job (2003), Four Brothers (2005), Invincible (2006), The Departed (2006), The Fighter (2010), The Other Guys (2010), Ted (2012), 2 Guns (2013), Lone Survivor (2013), Pain & Gain (2013), and Ted 2 (2015). I think that drama and crazy intense thriller Mark Whalberg style of acting is my favourite kind of Mark Whalberg acting. I’ve been really impressed with Whalberg lately, even his ridiculous role in Pain & Gain (2013), he can do these down right hilarious roles, but then he can really dig down deep and bring out these extremely emotional and dramatic roles and succeed even more. I feel strongly that if he continues on these dramatic streak and keeps making these types of movies, I can see an Oscar nomination and eventually he’ll bring home the gold.
Michelle Monaghan’s filmography consists of The Bourne Supremacy (2004), Mr. And Mrs. Smith (2005), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), Mission Impossible III (2006), Gone Baby Gone (2007), Eagle Eye (2007), Made Of Honor (2008), Source Code (2011). I’ve really liked Michelle Monaghan ever since I saw Gone Baby Gone. I thought she was a great actor and always chooses very interesting roles. I loved her in Made of Honor (2008) which is honestly one of my favourite roles she did, but she really did do some phenomenal acting in Ben Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone (2007), I need to revisit that film and if you haven’t seen in… I HIGHLY recommend it. She did a great job in this movie and really complimented Mark Whalberg in this movie.
J.K. Simmons filmography consists of Spider-Man (2002), Oz TV Series (1997-2003), Spider-Man 2 (2004), First Snow (2006), Juno (2007), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Burn After Reading (2008), Up In The Air (2009), I Love You, Man (2009), Dark Skies (2013), Whiplash (2014), and The Accountant (2016). After seeing his acting chops in Whiplash, not only did I call him winning the best supporting actor oscar for his role of Fletcher, he has quickly become one of my favourite actors to watch. He is definitely a chameleon that I feel can do anything. J.K. Simmons is just lovely, and this film is no different. His comedic roles are always great but where I think he really shines is his more dramatic roles. Whiplash is definitely his best film for me still, and is highly recommended.
John Goodman’s filmography consists of Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), Fallen (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Death Sentence (2007), The Artist (2011), Argo (2012), ParaNorman (2012), Flight (2012), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), Monsters University (2013), The Monuments Men (2014), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), and Ratchet & Clank (2016). Goodman is a brilliant actor, and much like Simmons he is a chameleon and can do anything. His role in 10 Cloverfield Lane was extremely creepy and a severely underrated role from 2016. John Goodman for lack of a better word is underrated and amazing, anything he is in is great. Whether his screen time is long or short, his roles are memorable. He can do the hilarious roles – The Big Lebowski, or be downright creepy and unnerving in 10 Cloverfield Lane. He is definitely an actor to watch.
I remember seeing the after effects of this event online on all the news stations and sites in April of 2013. This was a scary time and it really changed my look on a lot of things. I felt like this movie after reading up on it afterwards, did a fantastic job of capturing the event that occurred and the aftermath. My favourite part of Peter Berg’s films is that he does it as a DocuDrama (Which isn’t my term but I read about it online and it really fit this type of film) DocuDrama is a documentary style dramatized film, that mixes real images and clips into the dramatic version of the events. It connects you more to the story, event and characters in the film. It transcends the film genre and makes it more than just a film to watch, its an experience.
This film was so well done in my eyes. It wasn’t so much about the event itself (well it is but it was different). It didn’t focus on the terrorists, but it focused on the people of Boston themselves and the heroes and first responders. I felt like it was very well done, yes there were scenes with just the two terrorists talking, but it all was to further the story of Boston’s courage. Its something that has to be seen to really understand, but know that it was extremely well done in that way.
In typical Peter Berg watching routines. My mouth was gaping wide open, I was hanging on the edge of my seat, I laughed, I cried, I felt like I know a lot more now than I did when the event happened. But most of all, I feel just amazed and it gave me courage in a weird way to really support and fix my own life and to just live and love. To fight hate, with love. To fight evil with love.
If you like biographical historical thrillers, or just thrillers, there is no better way to start off the year of 2017 than by going to see this movie. The bar for 2017 has been set very high, and I look forward to the year ahead.
Patriot’s Day gets a 5/5 from me.
Go see it.
Until Next Time!
-Andrew
**Note**
I’m attending a screening of Michael Keaton’s new film called The Founder next Wednesday, January 18th. Stay tuned for a review of that!