Stronger

Based on true events, Stronger follows Jake Gyllenhaal’s Jeff Bauman as he’s severely injured during 2013’s Boston Marathon bombing and his subsequent attempts at moving on with his life (sans both legs). It’s perhaps not surprising to note, given the talent both in front of and behind the camera, that Stronger generally comes off as a searing and sporadically devastating drama, with the film boasting a number of low-key yet emotionally resonant sequences (eg Jeff’s bandages are changed for the first time) that are heightened by Gyllenhaal’s consistently engrossing turn as the tortured protagonist. Filmmaker David Gordon Green offers up a low-key, deliberately-paced narrative that proves an ideal complement for John Pollono’s subdued screenplay, and it’s clear, ultimately, that the director has no loftier goal than to deliver a well-acted, well-made character study (albeit one that’s armed with a handful of impressively spellbinding interludes). It’s equally apparent, however, that the somewhat uneventful nature of Pollono’s script paves the way for an erratic, wheel-spinning midsection, as the movie, saddled with an overlong running time of 119 minutes, does contain a handful of palpably repetitive moments that could (and should) have been left on the cutting-room floor. (There are, for example, a few too many scenes of Gyllenhaal’s character working through rehab and feeling sorry for himself.) There’s nevertheless little doubt that Stronger, for the most part, remains a stirring, affecting piece of work that’s heightened by one of Gyllenhaal’s very best performances, and it ultimately does go without saying that this stands as a marked improvement over the other Boston Marathon bombing movie (2016’s Patriot’s Day).

***1/2 out of ****