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Eddie Williams

Stronger - Written Movie Review


Tonight I'm reviewing the 2017 Drama / Biography film, Stronger, directed by David Gordon Green and stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Miranda Richardson, Tatiana Maslany, and Clancy Brown. Based on the true story about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal) loses both of his legs while waiting near the finish line for his girlfriend. After regaining consciousness in the hospital, Jeff is able to help the law enforcement identify one of the suspects, but his own battles have just begun. With strong support from his family and girlfriend, Jeff embarks on a long journey to physical and emotional rehabilitation. I enjoyed this film, but I do have some flaws to it as well which I will get into in a minute. First, a little back story. We previously had a film in 2016 called Patriot's Day, which starred Mark Wahlberg. In that film, it was through the police's point of view of the bombing situation and we were able to see the story on how they went into finding the suspects behind the terrorist attack. With Stronger, it's like the other half that was missing where we get the victims' point of view. I feel like you can put both films together. That being said, I think it's worthy that people should own both Stronger and Patriots Day. Now I'm not going to go into detail with Patriots Day because Justin and I already did a video review of that film after we saw it in the theaters back in January, but you're welcome to check it out on this page or on YouTube when you get a chance to: https://youtu.be/uyZPEFheVsY. Onto my pros with Stronger, I really enjoyed Jake Gyllenhaal's performance. I think he gives an emotional performance when needed, which worked out well. I liked the build-up getting to know his character and what led him to the Boston Marathon in the first place. The physical and mental pain that his character had to go through is very brutal and emotional. This film isn't just about him, but it's also the emotional journey his loved ones had to go through while supporting him through hard times. Now here's where I get into my cons. They have comedy that goes on throughout this film which was funny on some parts, but I felt like they overdid it to where it kind of threw off the tone of the story that they're trying to capture. I wasn't too big on the second act of the film. It becomes a totally different film, like a romantic love story that was so heavily done that it takes up the majority of the runtime. I probably wouldn't have had an issue with that if they didn't forget that he was a guy that survived a bombing and he had to go on this long journey into recovery. I'm not familiar with the real guy's family, but it seemed like they were making it out like his family were star-stricken jerks which I don't remember even reading about. I hope the director didn't add that on for the audience pleasure. I didn't like how they focused way too much on the girlfriend that you hardly see Jake Gyllenhaal at all in the majority of the second act. I'm not trying to take anything away from his loved ones, but the story is supposed to be mainly about him. They do fix the problems in the third act, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's definitely worth the watch and I'm going to give Stronger a 7/10. Personally, I enjoyed Patriots Day more but this one was good. Anyways, what were your thoughts on this film? Leave me a comment below and I'll see you on my next review.


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