'Everyone should be ashamed': Mark Wahlberg film Patriots Day slammed for 'disgraceful exploitation' of Boston bombing as victims reveal they were never contacted about the movie

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Patriots Day arrives in theaters on Wednesday, just in time to take advantage of the big holiday weekend box office.

The film is being sold as retelling of the Boston Marathon bombing, which took place less than four years ago and left three dead and close to 300 injured after brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev placed two pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the race.

It stars Mark Wahlberg in the leads role as Sgt. Tommy Saunders, a man who was at the finish line when the bombs exploded and there when police finally captured Dzhokhar after a lengthy standoff.

The problem for some however is that it is a fictional character, who has led to some reviews eviscerating the film and its cast.

'Everyone involved in this movie should be ashamed of themselves,' wrote Sean Burns in his review of the film, which he labeled 'as disgraceful an exploitation of real-life tragedy as I’ve ever seen.' 

Meanwhile, victims of the bombing and their families have also voiced their concerns and distaste for the film, while also revealing that they were never even contacted before or during the making of the movie.

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No go: Mark Wahlberg's new film Patriots Day is being heavily criticized by some people in Boston (Wahlberg above in the film)

Victim: Marc Fucarile, who lost his leg in the bombing, said last month he did not think it was 'OK' to make the movie at this time

'The narcissism is grotesque,' wrote Burns on North Shore Movies. 

'In Patriots Day, Wahlberg can’t even walk down the street without people stopping him just to say what a great guy he is. 

'After every big scene, someone in the cast takes a moment to tell Tommy he did a good job, and thanks him for being there.'

Burns goes on to write later in the review that the focus on Wahlberg is one of the film's biggest problems, referring to the actor as a 'former-underwear-model-turned-hamburger-salesman.'

'The movie spends so much time fellating its bogus hero, were it about an actual living person Patriots Day would feel like a North Korean propaganda film,' states Burns.

'But instead it’s just the tasteless delusions of a vain movie star recreating his hometown’s most horrifying moments so he can dress up and play policeman.'

He then adds: 'A few years ago Wahlberg famously claimed he could have stopped 9/11 if only he had been on one of the planes. These fantasies of inserting himself into national tragedies are something he really should be discussing with a therapist.'

The Boston Globe was not thrilled with the film either, but they were far less offended.

'Peter Berg’s movie, starring Mark Wahlberg in an invented role, is neither great nor gawdawful,' writes Ty Burr. 

'It’s professionally made, slickly heartfelt, and is offered up as an act of civic healing. At best, it’s unnecessary. At worst, it’s vaguely insulting.'

Then, there are the victims of the tragedy who will see the worst day of their life put on the big screen by a movie studio and Hollywood A-listed like Berg and Wahlberg who have been paid millions for their work and stand to make millions more. 

Marc Fucarile spoke about his issues with the film last month while appearing on The Kirk & Callahan show on WEEI.

When asked what his thoughts were about the film he stated very simply: 'I'm not OK with it.' 

In that same interview Fucarile also revealed that no one from the film asked to speak or meet with him when they were making the picture. 

Difficult: Jessica Kensky, who eventually lost both of her legs as a result of the attack, said she too was very hesitant to watch the film (Kensky above with her husband Patrick Downes) 

Courage: Downes and Kensky crossing the finish line at the 2014 Boston marathon, one year after the bombing (above)

Fucarile lost his right leg in the bombing, and actually handed his foot to the first firefighter that rushed to his side.

He then told the firefighter: 'I have a little boy, and I have a fiancee. I don't want to die.'

Fucarile was then transported from the scene in the back of a paddy wagon due to a shortage of ambulances and put in a medically induced coma because he was so close to death.

When he awoke he began the process of undergoing countless surgeries, so many that he says even he cannot give an exact number.

Finally, after 100 days, he was the last of the victims to be released from the hospital.

Two years after the attack Fucarile was called to testify during Dzhokhar's trial.

He sat just ten feet away from the bomber as he gave his testimony, staring him down the entire time. Dzhokhar refused to look at Fucarile.

Then, one year later, he completed the marathon for the first time as a hand cyclist. 

Fucarile was interviewed on Kirk & Callahan again last week after seeing the film though, and said: 'Surprisingly it was really good.'

He said that he had been convinced to take a look at the picture by Jessica Kensky and her husband Patrick Downes, two other victims who lost legs that day. 

Fucarile also said of the film at one point: 'It was good to see what happened in the city while I was in a coma.'

Not having it: The family of 8-year-old Martin Richards (left), who was the youngest of the three victims who were killed, reportedly refused to let the film use his name (Fucarile on right)

Another one: The Boston tragedy will be on the big screen again next year too, with Jake Gyllenhaal starring as as victim Jeff Bauman (Gyllenhaal and Bauman above in April)

Kensky, who eventually lost both of her legs as a result of the attack, said she too was very hesitant to watch the film.

When asked at a press conference last week if the film got the story of that day right, she responded by saying: 'It can feel OK, they can feel respected, they can feel proud and happy it was done, but "right" is so hard because what happened to us was just anything but right.' 

The family of Martin Richards, the youngest of the three victims to die during their attack, reportedly refused to let producers use their son's name in the film Burns wrote in his review.

He said that instead the child is referred to as 'the eight- year-old dead kid under a blanket.' 

The Boston tragedy will be on the big screen again next year too, with Jake Gyllenhaal starring as  as victim Jeff Bauman in Stronger, a film based on Bauman's book about the tragedy.

That is a more personal story about the after math and Bauman's fight to learn to walk again after losing both legs. 

He was waiting for his wife Erin to finish the race when the bomb exploded. This past April, Eric finally got the chance to complete the race for the first time.