Now that we've seen the movie, I agree with the Daily Wire commentary. It's a good quasi-documentary account of the events from the night before the marathon to the capture of the younger Tsarnaev brother and the questioning of the older one's American widow. It depicts the terrorists as bad guys, which they were. No whitewashing there.
The Mark Wahlberg character, as noted in the article, is a "composite," not a real cop but he serves to exemplify the dedication and determination of law enforcement in catching these weasels. As such, he's conveniently everywhere, from the marathon finish line to the backyard where the younger brother was captured. Just about every other person, from the FBI agent in charge to Mayor Menino and Gov. Patrick, is a real person.
I agree with
@Scutter that Deval Patrick may not be quite as manly and decisive as depicted, since in real life he's a sleaze and a hack. Some of the other characterizations of real-life people are a little odd. John Goodman is just goofy as the police commissioner. Admittedly, I was distracted by his eyebrows, which reminded me of the "Seinfeld" where Elaine used a Sharpie to give Uncle Leo giant fake black eyebrows. That, and a strange frowning facial expression he carried throughout the movie.
The carjacking of the Chinese fellow by the brothers and the man's escape was edge-of-the-seat stuff, as was the shootout in Watertown. I kept waiting for Tamerlan to get run over by Dzhokhar, and quietly cheered when it happened. ^-^ The shooting of the MIT cop was heartbreaking (not sure how much of his story was true to life, though, e.g., his shy crush on a graduate student he planned to take to a Zac Brown concert).
As for the FBI trying not to offend Muslims by prematurely calling it terrorism, I suspect the movie is fairly accurate. It didn't take long, however, for Kevin Bacon (he's everywhere!) as the FBI guy to come to the appropriate conclusion when he saw the evidence scattered on the sidewalk of Boylston St. No doubt, the FBI were familiar with the same Al Qaeda-type training videos - how to stuff a pressure cooker full of shrapnel, in three easy steps! - the Tsarnaev brothers watched.
I only wish I had a dime for every f-bomb in this film. It would have covered the cost of the tickets and our dinner afterwards. The cursing got a little tiresome, actually, but probably was all-too accurate.
All in all, a good movie. Mr. M and I visit Boston almost every Patriots Day and he runs the marathon most years, so we loved the views of the city. One of the few years in the past 20 we didn't go was 2013, as he was injured and couldn't run that year. When he does run, the corner near the finish line where I wait for him to pass is just a few blocks from where the explosions occurred. Never were we so grateful to have missed a marathon.
