A senseless outrage is handled with sensitivity in a stirring film that doesn’t need an A-list hero.
Peter Berg's well cast take on the Boston Marathon bombing is visceral and respectful.
The third part of Berg’s unofficial Americans-in-crisis trilogy will play better for US audiences than overseas, but it’s still a pacy and often enthralling disaster movie.
The fear of an insensitive re-enactment makes the first viewing an anxious if enjoyable experience.
Patriots Day is brilliantly made but often hollow and unconvincing as drama.
The narrative pulse of this tense thriller about real-life events is strong enough to override Mark Wahlberg’s irritating heroics as a fictional cop.
In the end, what emerges is a more socially conscious and holistic picture of the need for community and love instead of division and hate. In short, the sort of mainstream Hollywood film that’s needed right now.
It may see the world in black and white, it may tug at the heartstrings a little enthusiastically at times but at its best Patriots Day is a taut, pulse-racing thriller that tries to take something positive from the darkest of times.
Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg team up again after Deepwater Horizon for this briskly paced procedural.
General release. Check local listings for show times.