Patriots Day Gets Heroes Welcome at AFI Fest Premiere

If there is one film being released that really will test the influence of the election on the Oscar race, it’s this one. While you’re not going to see Donald Trump inviting Fences or Moonlight to screen at the White House you can certainly imagine them screening this film. The reviews are positive so far and the audience reaction was a standing ovation and many tears. The film and the screening paid tribute to the real life heroes who survived that day, the marathon runners, the crowds watching, the children watching and of course, law enforcement and first responders.  But it is coming at a strangely conflicted time for the country, there is no point in not making not of that. Some are proclaiming it has a shot at a Best Picture nomination, and a SAG ensemble nomination. Certainly the AFI Fest has launched contenders in the past two years with The Big Short, American Sniper and Selma.

Patriots Day will play very well in the heartland, as AwardsWatch’s Erik Anderson pointed out, it has an American Sniper kind of feel to it. While there are many films made for liberal leaning people, there aren’t many that aim at the kind of country that just elected Donald Trump. For that reason, Patriots Day is going to make a lot of money. A lot a lot a lot of money. Where it will land in the race I do not know.

It’s a film about the day and its impact on the victims and on the city, but it’s also brazen with its cathartic revenge mission. When the young Chinese entrepreneur who is taken hostage by the brothers runs away from the brothers after they stop for snacks at a gas station, his plea of “Get those motherfuckers!” to the policemen he provides information to, feels like it could come from a Eddie Murphy buddy cop movie from the 80s. Unlike Greengrass’s “ordeal cinema”, it’s clear this is meant to be a positive homage to Boston, its spirit and its residents.

Unlike Greengrass who used real-life participants as actors in United 93, Berg chooses to have the survivors and officers from Boston give their views to finish the film. It’s an obvious move to keep the real-life survivors at the heart of the action and a reminder that all of it really happened. The Guardian

 

Peter Berg's PATRIOTS DAY is not only one of the Best Films of the Year, but it's the movie America NEEDS right now. https://t.co/Tv49LCNGbk

— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) November 18, 2016

PATRIOTS DAY = easily the best of the 3 Berg-Wahlberg collaborations, has a real shot at landing a best pic Oscar nom/best ensemble SAG nom.

— Scott Feinberg (@ScottFeinberg) November 18, 2016