Patriots Day

Another masculine tragedy from director and co-writer Peter Berg, who recreates the Boston Marathon bombing and subsequent manhunt with the same visceral accuracy that he brought to his recreation of the BP oil rig explosion in last year’s Deepwater Horizon. His Deepwater Horizon star Mark Wahlberg also headlines here as Tommy Saunders, a fictional composite Boston cop who tracks the bombers from ground zero to their eventual captures or deaths. Patriots Day forms a triple feature with Deepwater Horizon and Michael Bay’s 13 Hours—they’re all ethically dubious enterprises, yet the filmmaking is undeniably powerful and the moral lines are hazier than you would think. Even if Patriots Day is the bronze medalist of that trio, with Wahlberg’s borderline self-parodic performance making for a mediocre centerpiece, it’s still a gripping portrayal of an hour-by-hour response to terror, with strong supporting players and an effective score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. D.B.