Patriots Day 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
Brad Sturdivant
March 22nd, 2017
Released just three months after DEEPWATER HORIZON, PATRIOTS DAY is the second reteaming in as many months for star Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg. And yes, both films are true stories based on recent events. I can’t think of a situation in recent movie history where an actor and director duo released two high profile films so close together, but maybe the most surprising thing about the situation is that both movies were actually pretty good. While DEEPWATER HORIZON mixed drama and action, PATRIOTS DAY mixes drama with an intense manhunt and investigation. Sure, we all remember the images of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev crawling out of the boat, but how many remember the massive shootout between the police and Tamerlan Tsarnaev? PATRIOTS DAY takes a closer look at the events following the bombing and also takes some time to peek into the lives of a few individuals that suffered during the bombing.
Director Peter Berg had a tough job with PATRIOTS DAY because he had to mix in some emotional attachments for the viewers to get behind, but also tell the story of what happened while being respectful to everyone involved. That’s hard in a story like this because it could have easily been told as a straight up manhunt, with a deeper dive into what went into tracking down the Tsarnaev brothers. Or, it could have gone the other way, with Berg focusing on the families impacted from the bombing, leading to a more sappy, emotionally charged film that doesn’t give enough facts. Berg takes some lessons he learned from DEEPWATER HORIZON and manages to find the perfect balance between the two directions. We get to know a few of the people that suffered, but they weren’t the stars of the film, nor the focus. They were there as an example of the real suffering that occurred on that day, which is exactly what we needed. And when the manhunt commenced, Berg took us through the investigation, told mostly through the eyes of Boston detective Tommy Saunders (Wahlberg) and FBI Special Agent in charge Richard DesLauriers (Bacon). Berg did this with an expert efficiency that shows how far he’s come as a director.
Aside from balancing the delicate act of mixing drama and emotions, Berg also had the problem of how to deal with the Tsarnaev brothers and the initial reaction at the time of the bombing. On the day in question, no one knew who or what was responsible for the bomb. We now know that it was just two brothers acting independently, but at the time it could have been the beginnings of a massive terrorist attack. Berg also handles this well through conversations between DesLauriers and Commissioner Davis (Goodman) and switches the focus back to the brothers. If there’s a complaint with the script, it’s with the amount of focus on the brothers. I felt they got too much screen time considering how uninteresting they were. That might have been why more attention was focused on Katherine Tsarnaev, who was practically depicted as being a co-conspirator with her husband (even though she still hasn’t been charged with anything). However, in Berg’s defense, he managed to avoid eliciting any sympathy for the terrorists (not that they deserved any) and instead stuck with the facts.
The film does indulge in the emotions a few times, most notably with Wahlberg’s dramatic speech right before the second brother is found, but for the most part, the filmmakers practice restraint. The result is a surprisingly tout telling of the bombing and the ensuing manhunt that was intense and suspenseful even though the audience knew what was going to happen. PATRIOTS DAY was told with class and efficiency, which resulted in a gripping true life drama.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: The 4K presentation of PATRIOTS DAY looks wonderful, but remember that a lot of the film is told in a documentary-style. So this is a gritty film and it’s not always going to show off your new 4K setup. But this is a decent upgrade over the Blu-ray, giving us enhanced detail during closeups and impressive background resolution, especially during the daylight scenes. This isn’t going to be used to showoff the 4K capabilities, but it is a good example of the subtle differences and upgrades the format offers over Blu-ray.
Audio: I am a little disappointed that we didn’t get a Dolby Atmos track. The DTS track is fine, but there were a few scenes where the surround channels could have used an extra “oomph”.
This title was reviewed using a Samsung UBD-K8500 with a Sony XBR75X850C TV.
The 4K UHD does not contain any exclusive features, but it does include a Blu-ray of the film, which includes the following special features:
The Boston Strong: True Stories of Courage (21:35), The Boston Bond: Recounting the Tale (21:45), The Real Patriots: The Local Heroes’ Stories (19:50): I’m putting all of these together because they all touch on the same thing, which is telling the real life stories of the people involved. I love these kind of featurettes that are included on real life movies and these are some of the best I’ve seen. One thing I can say about the people involved is that even after you watch the film, you still don’t know the extent of what some of these people went through. Their stories are amazing and fascinating.
The Cast Remembers (5:50): The cast talks about where they were when the bombings happened and their reaction to the tragedy.
Actors Meet Real-Life Counterparts: A 2-part Series (18:15): Pretty self explanatory; the actors meet their counterparts.
Researching the Day (11:22): We get a look at what was involved in keeping the film as true to life as possible.
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