Film
Stronger
- Director
- David Gordon Green
- Certificate
- 15
- Running Time
- 119 mins
There ain’t no terrorist attack that can’t be exploited for multiple Hollywood movies about American heroism. After the flag-salutin’ Patriots Day – in which, you’ll recall, Mark Wahlberg played a heroic cop who, er, didn’t actually exist – this second movie about the Boston bombing does at least centre on a real person.
That’s Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal), a 27-year-old victim who’d been at the Boston Marathon finishing line in the hope of winning back his ex-girlfriend (Tatiana Maslany). Having lost both legs, he’s subsequently acclaimed as a hero when he’s able to identify one of the bombers. It’s directed by David Gordon Green, who’s known chiefly for his comedies (Pineapple Express, The Sitter, etc), and has been praised for refusing to place its protagonist on a pedestal even as it proceeds towards the inevitable uplift.
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