This movie already premiered in Indonesian theater on last Friday and I was tempted to watch it on that day itself, but I changed my mind as the time did not really suit me. Then I wanted to watch it on Sunday, but the appeal of spending my off day just to sleep around all day was too tempting and so I did not go out that day. I continued watching a TV series (which I may write about it sometime later) till completion and only finally did go to see the movie last night. It was quite a long movie with over 2 hours length and hence it started not the usual 7PM but at 6.35PM instead. Since my wife was still in Singapore for her vacation trip, I went to Setiabudi and bought the ticket for myself. There were still a lot of empty seats despite I reached there at almost 6PM. Not sure about the reason coz I strongly believe the movie would be attracting lots of attention. Anyway their loss was my gain as I still managed to get quite a nice seat. Well, enough of my rambling above and let's get on to the movie.
Brief Story Line
The movie started with the introduction of the main characters involved in the actual events in 2013 in Boston. As there were lots of them, I would like to share some of the characters whom I believed would play significant roles in the later part. First we were introduced to Sergeant Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg - Ted, Transformers: Age of Extinction etc) who was a Detective but due to some reason was suspended and had to watch over the marathon dressing in full police uniform, and his superior the Boston police commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman - Monsters Inc, 10 Cloverfield Lane etc). Tommy was married to Carol (Michelle Monaghan - Mission: Impossible 3, Eagle Eye etc) for many years.
Then we were also introduced to a young couple named Patrick (Christopher O'shea) and Jessica (Rachel Brosnahan - Beautiful Creatures, House of Cards TV series etc) who prefer to be spectators of the marathon run rather than do the actual running. There were also the introduction of a young Chinese guy named Dun Meng (Jimmy O. Yang - Silicon Valley TV series) who just bought a nice SUV and bragging to his parents in China. Other characters introduced were officer Sean Collier (Jake Picking - Dirty Grandpa) who usually covered MIT area and Watertown police Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese (J.K.Simmons - Whiplash and as Mayor Lionheart in Zootopia etc).
Finally we were also introduced to the bombers. The elder brother was Tamerlan (Themo Melikidze) while the younger brother who was also a university student named Dzokhar (Alex Wolff - My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2). Tamerlan had a wife named Katherine (played by unrecognizable Melissa Benoist - Whiplash, Glee and Supergirl TV series etc). They also had a very young daughter of 3 years old.
Now after the introduction of those characters, then the bomb exploded in 2 different location. One was near the finish line of the marathon and the other exploded nearby just few seconds apart. Since we all knew that these events really occurred, the next scenes were focusing more on the terrifying images of the victims of the bombings and the suspenseful scenes during those times.
Tommy as a natural leader immediately took over responsibility by giving various instructions and also updating the information to his superior, who later on came with the governor of Boston, Deval Patrick (Michael Beach - Insidious Chapter 2 etc). And not too long later, the FBI arrived at the scene. The leading agent named Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon - Apollo 13, Mystic River etc). After having the discussion with the governor, it was finally decided that since it was an act of terror, the investigation would be led by the FBI.
From that moment on, the movie was going in a very fast pace of creating the task force to find the perpetrator of the bombings. The story also were combined with the scenes involving the 2 bombers and the victims, plus the other characters whom we would only know the connections as the story progressed. From time to time, the scenes would show events few minutes and hours after the bombing incident.
For those of you who may not have the complete info on the bombing then, the events unfolding in the remaining of the movie would be really intriguing to see.
End of Brief Story Line
Watching this movie from beginning till end, you would feel the sense of suspense and horror particularly the events leading to the bombing. We were never sure of who would be the victims and hence the emotion that audience felt while watching the movie was truly mixed. It was like an emotional roller coaster ride, where we would feel the suspense, the tension, the anger, the sadness, and even few scenes where it was surprisingly actually funny.
The introduction of the people involved were done sufficiently fast and left good impressions, even including the bombers (though I have some doubts of the actual conversations they were having). Nevertheless, what really amazed me was the explosions that happened so sudden without warning. Furthermore, the images of the victims shown in the movie after the explosions were not overly done. Of course you would still feel the terror watching those gruesome pictures.
Anyway, the storyline after the explosions were done quite great as well, where the investigation was shown quite fast and since we know that this was based on true events, you cannot help feeling amazed with the method of checking and finding out the perpetrators. Mark Wahlberg was quite amazing in this movie (he seemed to have a knack for playing in movies based on true events as like he did previously in Deepwater Horizon. Meanwhile, I also loved the performance of J.K. Simmons, John Goodman, Kevin Bacon and the rest of the cast.
This was an amazing movie with powerful strong message which you would understand if you watch the whole movie. In addition to the good special make up effects, the movie also had great sound & special effect especially on the bombing scenes and the last shootout scene between the police and the 2 bombers. Before the end of the movie, there would also be scenes showing the actual persons involved in the investigation as well as the victims and all those involved. There would be quite frequent touching scenes throughout the movie, and also during the ending scenes which involved the actual victims.
Bottom line, this is a recommended film for you who wants to see a terror drama movie, but certainly the movie is not suitable for young children as I believe those violence and especially the scenes after the bombing are too gruesome.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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