“Patriots Day” (Drama/History: 2 hours, 13 minutes)

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, J.K. Simmons, Kevin Bacon and John Goodman

Director: Peter Berg

Rated: R (Violence, graphic injury images, profanity and drug use)

 

Movie Review: Actor Mark Wahlberg and Director Peter Berg last worked together for “Deepwater Horizon” (2016). 

The two know how to create a devastating event on the big screen. They make a realistic and impressive cinematic piece even if Wahlberg makes his character too prominent.

An account of the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013, and the aftermath serves as the basis for this historical drama. 

After two young radicalized terrorists explode bombs during the Boston Marathon, the attack kills three people and injures 260 others. A citywide manhunt to find the terrorists responsible shuts down Boston and causes several violent incidents in numerous parts of the city.

Wahlberg stars as Sgt. Tommy Saunders, a fictional composite character. He is one of the leading police officers pursuing the terrorists. 

With evidence the two terrorists may be planning other attacks, the search for the two assailants is paramount. Law-enforcement and government officials know the danger is still at large. 

“Patriots Day” is a good movie. It is suspenseful and definitely realistic in the way it tries to exhibit terrorism. The use of camera footage and special effects is superb.

Audiences get a chance to experience the terrorist attack as if present. This is one of the pluses of the movie. It does a nice job detailing the events of April 13, 2013, and the days following. It does so without being political while making one proud to be an American simultaneously. 

The plot’s one negative is Wahlberg’s role as a fictional character. The problem is not that Wahlberg is an unreal character. The fact he makes this character a pivotal part of the movie is. Wahlberg makes it appear as if his character is one of the people leading efforts.

Even more, his character is everywhere in the middle of every major event connected to the bombing. While Wahlberg, who is a producer, is good, the portrayal of an actual policeman could keep the realism of the event rather than make it a drama with a historical event in the background occasionally. 

All is crafted well. Berg and his team keep the movie about the heroes from the bombing tragedy. The production of the events associated with the terrorist act is also good to show the resolve of Boston and the United States.

Grade: B (A patriotic engagement provides a historical overview of a tragic event.)

 

“Live by Night” (Crime/Drama: 2 hours, 8 minutes)

Starring: Ben Affleck, Zoe Saldana, Elle Fanning and Brendan Gleeson

Director: Ben Affleck

Rated: R (Strong violence, profanity, sexuality and nudity)

 

Movie Review: “Live by Night” is a production helmed by Ben Affleck (“Argo,” 2012; “Gone Baby Gone,” 2007). 

He is the director, leading actor and the scripter for this period crime drama based on Dennis Lehane’s novel. Affleck’s directing and his writing are good, but Affleck casting himself in the lead role is a distraction.

Joe Coughlin (Affleck), a World War I veteran and the son of prominent law-enforcement officer Thomas Coughlin (Gleeson), leads a group of Boston-bred gangsters in Tampa, Fla., during the Prohibition era. 

Joe Coughlin and his entourage’s task will not be easy. Coughlin must deal with shady politicians and law-enforcement officials, other mobsters, zealous pro-Prohibition Christians and the terrorist acts of the Klu Klux Klan..

Boston and Tampa serve as the settings starting in 1926. Affleck and his production team do a nice job with the setting. The scenes are inviting because the props, costumes and characters are attractively engaging. They make it easy for one to want to visit both Boston and Tampa.

The movie also provides a nice motive for its characters. Joe Coughlin and others have reasons for why they do what they do – for money, power and those they love. This is part of the attraction of this period drama.

However, the movie fails miserably with the inclusion of Affleck as the lead. He appears out of place. The role appears as one fit for Leonardo DiCaprio, who is a producer. 

Affleck’s appearance as lead lowers the movie, reducing it to a common mobster movie. The job of the director, especially one who is also the screenplay writer, is to recognize when casting has delivered a lackluster person for the leading role. Again, Affleck’s direction and writing are better than his acting performance.

Grade: C (Affleck should have thought about this one more night.)

 

“Sleepless” (Action/Crime/Thriller: 1 hour, 35 minutes)

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Michelle Monaghan, Dermot Mulroney

Director: Baran bo Odar

Rated: R (Strong violence and profanity)

 

Movie Review: When one has to think how the title relates to the movie, the photoplay is already lagging as a good production.

“Sleepless” is a cop thriller with unrealistic twists and turns. The plot is thrilling but not compelling.

Las Vegas police detective Vincent Downs (Foxx) finds himself in a precarious position. His connections to the criminal underworld place his son, Thomas (Octavius J. Johnson), in danger. 

Nightclub manager Stanley Rubino (Mulroney) kidnaps Thomas, and Rubino will keep the teenager until Downs brings him a significant amount of cocaine that Downs and his fellow law enforcer Sean Cass (Tip Harris) stole just days earlier. 

The script waffles often, as if the writers did not know where they wanted this to go. Each character has an unknown motive that appears adverse to the initial presentation. The motives quickly change. This happens often throughout this movie’s runtime.

Baran bo Odar (“Who Am I,” 2014) directs this energy-filled but poorly written screenplay. Odar is a writer. He should realize when a screenplay is filled with typical mobster-police themes seen too often. The script also has undeveloped and uneven characters — not to mention clichéd — who appear in implausible conditions. 

Grade: C- (People lacking sleep may be the reason for this poorly crafted bit.)

“Monster Trucks” (Action/Adventure: 1 hour, 44 minutes)

Starring: Lucas Till, Jane Levy, Barry Pepper and Rob Lowe

Director: Chris Wedge

Rated: PG (Violence)

 

Movie Review: Despite its appealing, energetic action involving monsters and trucks, the feature is far from compelling. 

“Monster Trucks” is entertaining and mainly for younger audiences. It works on an elementary level, but it is far from above par because of subpar elements. 

Lucas Till, television’s new MacGyver, is a swell star. He is youthful in appearance and handsome, all the makings of a leading star. 

He plays Tripp, a high school senior in a small town. He builds a monster truck from junkyard pieces. Shortly after, the vehicle’s motor becomes a whale-like squid creature from deep beneath Earth. 

The friendly monster becomes Tripp’s new best friend, Creech, but an oil corporation is seeking the subterranean animal, jeopardizing their friendship.

People discover a monster the size of a large automobile, and they quickly become at ease with the monster. A big monster wrapping its tentacles around you is not something a person is accustomed to regularly. 

The characters treat the incidents with an unknown species without anxiety. This makes the movie appear unreal. 

More important, people displayed in the movie do observe the obvious. As an example, a hunter asks where the alien-appearing creature is. The vehicle in which the monster inhabits is moving and making unusual sounds. The hunter looks at the vehicle and walks away. Clearly, that character is deaf and blind in one eye and cannot see out of the other.

Missteps plague the movie directed by Chris Wedge (“Ice Age,” 2002). Several lackluster moments exist. All make the onscreen monsters pretty in contrast. 

Grade: C- (Monstrous entertainment.)