This weekend we watched Patriots Day a film based on the horrific events of the Boston Marathon in 2013 when bombs was detonated in the crowd.
This film follows the efforts of the authorities to track down the bombers and how Boston was in fear until they were captured.
The film is the 3rd true story to brought screen by director Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg (the others being Lone Survivor & Deepwater Horizon)
We follow the film through police officer Tommy Saunders (Wahlberg) looking to improve his career, following suspensions. He is given a chance to show he can deliver on the big stage, by being stationed at the end of the marathon.
The bomb goes off and the devastation is shown in horrific effect, we mainly follow a couple in Patrick (Christopher O’Shea) and Jessica (Rachel Brosnahan) who need leg amputations; we also see family man Steve (Dustin Tucker) get separated from his son Leo (Lucas Thor Kelley) in the chaos after. We also see Tommy’s own fears knowing his partner Carol (Michelle Monaghan) is in the crowd.
We then see the aftermath, as Ed David (John Goodman) the Boston Police Commissioner join forces with the FBI led by Special Agent, Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon) and the incredibly huge operation to find the 2 bombers, brothers Dzhokhar (Alex Wolff) & Tamerlan (Themo Melikidze)
This involves seeking out old college friends of theirs and interrogating Tamerlan’s wife Kathleen (Melissa Benoist) anything to find them and to prevent any further attacks.
The bombers we learn are heading to New York to release more bombs, and this information was only learnt through the bravery of Dun Meng (Jimmy O. Yang) who managed to escape them, after being taken hostage when they stole his car, having only just shot dead a police officer as they try to take his gun.
The bombers end up in a huge shoot out and again we see the bravery of officers such as police sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese (J.K. Simmons) who literally throws himself at these terrorists. After the shoot out, one of the terrorists is rushed to hospital as despite his actions, attempts to save his life take place, whereas his brother has fled into a nearby house, a huge search is put into place to bring him to justice and lift the spirits of Boston.
The film does extremely well to show the fears and uncertainty of the aftermath of these horrific situations. We see how the terrorists are relentless in causing these horrors because of their beliefs and convictions. We see the huge task of the authorities when it comes to bringing justice, as well as the challenges they get from the likes of the press and most importantly we see the bravery of those officers who put their lives on the line to capture them and for those survivors whose life changes dramatically, who continue to not live in fear despite what they been through.
We found this film to be an incredibly moving watch yet providing plenty of action along the way and we highly recommend it
You can watch the trailer: here
You can find the film at Amazon here:
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