Patriots Day is a surprisingly steady retelling of a tragic event.

A taut, multi-stranded account of the Boston marathon bombing.

It's not suspenseful so much as commemorative and even, in paying tribute to the resilient spirit of Boston and all of those caught up in this attack, celebratory. It's a kind of civic tribute.

The makings for a stocked and stacked ensemble drama are dismantled by the misplaced hero worship that becomes little more than a vanity project.