The film presents a largely faithful reconstruction of the timeline and key events of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the subsequent city-wide manhunt. It achieves a high degree of procedural and chronological accuracy by incorporating real news footage and adhering to the established public record. However, its primary departure from reality is the creation of a composite central character, Police Sergeant Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg), who serves as a narrative anchor for the audience.
Specific elements of historical accuracy include the depiction of the carjacking of Dun Meng, the murder of MIT Officer Sean Collier, the Watertown shootout between law enforcement and the Tsarnaev brothers, and the final capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in a boat. The film also accurately portrays many of the real-life figures involved, such as Police Commissioner Ed Davis and FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers. The most significant dramatic license is the character of Saunders, who is an amalgamation of multiple Boston police officers. This narrative device places one character at nearly every critical momentfrom the finish line to the command center to the final confrontationwhich, while effective for storytelling, was not the experience of any single individual.
This narrative approach, blending factual events with a fictionalized protagonist, serves the cinematic purpose of streamlining a complex, multi-agency investigation into a cohesive and emotionally accessible story. While conversations and specific character interactions are dramatized for effect, the film is widely regarded as a respectful and factually grounded portrayal of the real-world tragedy. It prioritizes the spirit of the events and the resilience of the community over strict documentary adherence, functioning as a docudrama rather than a pure historical account.
