Patriots Day
Lionsgate | Release Date: December 21, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
32
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York PostKyle SmithDec 20, 2016
A great American movie about the greatness of ordinary Americans, Patriots Day combines an electrifying manhunt with the intimacy and feel for character writer-director Peter Berg showed in his brilliant TV series “Friday Night Lights.” Read full review
91
The PlaylistNigel M. SmithNov 18, 2016
Berg’s approach is blunt and effective. With Patriots Day, he’s made an action film that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let up. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 12, 2017
Overall, this is a Boston Strong film about one of the worst terrorist attacks ever on American soil, and a community’s resounding response. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallJan 10, 2017
Like Lone Survivor and Deepwater Horizon before, Patriots Day is a brawny procedural, more than the exploitation flick it could be. Berg and Wahlberg's commitment to details beyond death and destruction feels like a calling. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonGuy LodgeFeb 23, 2017
Still, it’s one of the terrorist's wives (Melissa Benoist) who carries the film’s most riveting and provocative scene. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekJan 12, 2017
Patriots Day, muscular and confident, falls right in line with Berg’s other work. And you might feel a little dirty after watching it, as if you’d been granted access to real-life suffering and tragedy that perhaps should have remained private. Read full review
80
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJan 11, 2017
Formally, Berg's film is at its root a police procedural, albeit an exceptionally well-executed one. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternDec 20, 2016
The hurtling action, speaking louder than any dialogue, gives a stirring sense of the suffering and heroism that flowed from the terror at the Boylston Street finish line. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranDec 20, 2016
An effective, efficient and quite dramatic examination of the events surrounding the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three and injured 264, Patriots Day is a tribute to people who earned it: the investigators and first responders who ensured that a horrible situation did not become even worse. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeNov 18, 2016
It’s genuinely exciting megaplex entertainment, informed by extensive research, featuring bona fide movie stars, and staged with equal degrees of professionalism and respect. Read full review
80
The GuardianLanre BakareNov 18, 2016
There’s little doubt who the hero of Peter Berg’s retelling of the 2013 Boston marathon bombings is: the city itself. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 13, 2017
A taut, riveting police procedural that maintains suspense even as it finds humor in the people, their funny accents and way with profanity, and pathos. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJan 12, 2017
Berg also creates one scene that should stand as an all-time classic: a residential street standoff between the Tsarnaevs and members of the Boston and neighbouring Watertown police departments. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJan 12, 2017
Far from being exploitative, Patriots Day honors the Bostonians who responded to terrorism with strength. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 12, 2017
As with all of Berg’s films, Patriots Day does an excellent job with sets and locales and is compulsively watchable. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesJohn HartlJan 11, 2017
For all its rough edges and gruesome touches, Patriots Day is a heartfelt and ambitious attempt to turn mayhem into something that’s emotionally valid. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittJan 10, 2017
In other hands, Patriots Day could have been a paint-by-the numbers action thriller, but strong performances and well-paced momentum make it an engrossing watch. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedDec 27, 2016
The question is, How big an audience is ready to relive the horror of a tragedy so close to home, especially in the light of the terrorist attacks that continue to assault our senses daily? Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 21, 2016
Berg's unquestioning faith in law and order could have used, well, a little questioning. But there's no doubt about the worth of the movie as a well-earned tribute to the heroes and victims of a tragic event that may have just made Boston stronger. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubBenjamin MercerDec 20, 2016
The movie, none too revelatory, mostly just stands as a sturdy thriller, one that’s more fleet than flat-footed as it shuttles among a veritable network of characters and story lines. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChristopher GrayNov 28, 2016
As long as Patriots Day is concerned with recreating the sense of ambient chaos among sparring investigators and an anxious community, it’s immersive and thrilling. Read full review
75
IndieWireSteve GreeneNov 18, 2016
Historians, media scholars and even Boston citizens may debate whether this is the most worthy way to honor those fallen in the attacks. But Berg mounts a heartfelt, harrowing tribute to the film’s real-life heroes. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJan 12, 2017
Patriots Day is a well-meaning, well-executed movie that tells the story of the Boston Marathon bombings of 2013 as a crime thriller — an interesting choice that works well, for the most part. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoDec 20, 2016
With Patriots Day, Peter Berg translates national tragedy to cinema screens with power and purpose for the second time this year – yet the question for many is with wounds still healing, do we really need to be subjected to recreations of a hateful act still fresh in our nation’s history? Read full review
70
The New York TimesGlenn KennyDec 20, 2016
My reservations about such pictures in general were not put to rest by Patriots Day, but this film’s real merits are not easily dismissed either. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenNov 18, 2016
Like the heroic Bostonians it celebrates, civilians and law enforcement both, Peter Berg’s Patriots Day gets the job done. Read full review
70
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeNov 18, 2016
As a retelling of a tragedy that had its moments of heroism among uniformed personnel and indefatigable civilians alike, it gets the job done. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 13, 2017
The film, which swivels frantically between first responders, survivors, and investigators, has a percussive force, but its best scene, unbearably tense, is a quiet one, when a Chinese app designer (an excellent Jimmy O. Yang) is carjacked by the Tsarnaev brothers. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernDec 20, 2016
Patriots Day benefits from a robust, concentrated timeline and sheer bat-out-of-hell pacing. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJan 12, 2017
If you’re looking for great, realistic action, it’s just the thing. Berg is a masterful action director, and his Patriots Day is every bit as engaging and exciting as "Lone Survivor" and "Deepwater Horizon." Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJan 12, 2017
After dispensing with the sluggish setup of the film’s first act, Berg shifts into high gear, powerfully evoking the feelings of dread and white-knuckle excitement that much of America no doubt felt as the manhunt progressed. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyDec 21, 2016
The hero worship of a fictional character in the midst of all of this real-life drama is a mistake. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinFeb 23, 2017
Patriots Day is stirring, well-acted, moving and built with conviction and flair. But a film about such a senseless attack shouldn’t be scared, now and then, to make a little less sense. Read full review
60
EmpirePhil de SemlyenFeb 20, 2017
The third part of Berg’s unofficial Americans-in-crisis trilogy will play better for US audiences than overseas, but it’s still a pacy and often enthralling disaster movie. Read full review
60
SlateJohn SwansburgJan 19, 2017
Wahlberg may have succeeded in singlehandedly cracking the case and bringing the perpetrators to justice but — like the film itself—he fails to find meaning in the wreckage. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 18, 2016
As exciting as the film may be, Berg too easily undercuts the human element of his story. Read full review
50
ConsequenceBlake GobleJan 14, 2017
Patriots Day sits right on the line between exploitation and tribute. The star power is dicey, and the action relentless, but Berg means well and likes the people in his recount. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 12, 2017
So the bottom line: This is an undeniably effective movie that I mostly enjoyed, even though I’m not altogether sure it should ever have been made. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenJan 11, 2017
To its credit, the film doesn’t linger unnecessarily over the horrors, and quickly turns into a police procedural. As the FBI takes over the investigation from the local authorities and sets up a command center, the details of this process are fascinating to observe. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 21, 2016
At best, it's unnecessary. At worst, it's vaguely insulting. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsAllen SalkinDec 21, 2016
It works so hard to evoke a sense of teary patriotism it leaves behind a grimy feeling. Read full review
50
The Film StageJohn FinkDec 20, 2016
Patriots Day may, in fact, embrace the spirit of the days following the bombing, but the scattered framing leaves one wanting more. Read full review
More From This Movie

69 Critic Reviews

6.9 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL