13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

It's no secret that many people along a lengthy chain of command f**ked up when it came to the 9/11/12 Benghazi attacks. 

Everyone at this point likely has their own political beliefs about the tragedy with opinions of who's to blame, what the consequences should be, and its portrayal in the media. But there's something that should be remembered here, by Democrats and Republicans and everyone in between:

It was a terrorist attack, plain and simple. Four American lives were lost on what was essentially American soil and there was a brave "last stand"-type of rebuttal from our very own men and woman in service.  

This is the aspect that the new, surprising-that-it's-directed-by-Michael-Bay, film focuses on. Aside from it's obvious timing with GOP debates and Iowa caucuses, this is a film with very little political opinion. Some may be disappointed to hear that this film will likely not sway any voters. It will light a fire under Conservative butts and Liberals will likely just be happy that a certain someone who's name rhymes with "Blinton" isn't mentioned a single time. But both parties will still come out of it with their political opinions in tact, and I think it works to the benefit of the film. Rather than spending time in the politics that drug out for months/years afterward, it focuses on the heroes of that night and the lives lost. As it should be. 

The attacks on Benghazi, in case you're completely politically unaware and live under a rock, were from a radical group of Islam combatants that were basically a "gang" of remnants from the process of the Libyan government being overthrown. For months and weeks the U.S. Embassy in the city was deemed as being in a hot zone and most countries had since pulled out their ambassadors and representatives by this point (2012). On 9/11, in 2012, the U.S. stations in Benghazi were attacked and four Americans were murdered, including an American ambassador. This film is the portrayal of mostly the days leading up to the attack and the attack itself. 

`Merica!

When I first saw previews for this film I was immediately interested and it looked like a solid war flick based on a current event. Then I saw Michael Bay was directing and I sighed somewhat, deciding that I wouldn't hold my breath. He's a director that I think gets way too much flak, but at the same time, he has some awful, awful tendencies. His action is often stitched together with quick edits, shaky cam, and little sense of continuity. His characters are usually thinly drawn, or not drawn at all. And perhaps his biggest offense is he overblows every story he tries to tell. I'm not sure he's made a film less than 2 hours long before. I always stay positive for Bay's films because he has the capability to surprise, but his last few efforts have left me feeling rather "meh". So much to my surprise I can pretty definitively say that I think 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is Bay's best film since the original Transformers (remember...the one we all loved?). Granted I also enjoyed Dark of the Moon and Pain & Gain more than most, and truth be told I think I liked 13 Hours more than my final score would indicate, but take my Michael Bay rankings with a grain of salt as I imagine everyone has their own.

Jim has decided to mount an offensive
against Dwight Schrute

13 Hours is by no means the best war movie you've seen, but it is mostly effective in telling its story. Shockingly, the characters are some of Bay's strongest and he gives them a few opportunities to breath and for the audience to get to know them. Out of the dozen or so main characters he only does this with a couple, but still, it helps. John Krasinski (Jim from The Office) was a "left-field" choice for this film, but he nails it. I was pleasantly surprised and I think his presence, not to mention acting prowess, helped in the film's quieter moments. The rest of the cast is fine as is, playing up the macho soldier role well. 

From an action standpoint, Benghazi is mostly realistic which makes it less strictly exciting than some of Bay's films, but the tension is still dramatically high due to the realism and pounding, and quite good, original score. There's not a stunt that will blow your mind, but there often aren't in war films and the run-and-gun action is done well. The film is a pretty soft R rating up until the end. There's a particular injury that's one of the worst I've ever seen in a war film and Bay isn't afraid to show it, multiple times. To say I got queasy seeing it most likely spells doom for certain soft-stomached moviegoers. But that's not necessarily a complaint. 

With regard to Bay's worst tendencies, he keeps them mostly in check here. The editing is still quick and the shaky cam still present, but they're toned down. The film is just over two hours and while it could've have been shorter, it doesn't feel tremendously overdone. And as I mentioned before, the characters are decently crafted here. Even though his tendencies have made a considerable decrease in this film, they're still there. Throughout the film there are several segments that are useless -- cutaways to random American generals in war rooms for < 5 seconds come to mind. Also, something I was baffled by, was the inconsistency with time of day. It happened more than once and I explicitly remember a scene where an RPG radical fires at the soldiers near the very end of dusk and they dodge it in what would seem is the middle of the night. So apparently between the time that the RPG was fired and it reached its destination (i.e. less than a second) the sun completely set and all hints of its light were replaced with moonlight. It's jarring and unacceptable for a film this big. 

"Say beets, bears, and Battlestar Galactica one more time."

All in all though I think I come away from 13 Hours fairly surprised. Granted, a significant portion of that is due to the completely unexpected and expertly pulled off Cloverfield sequel trailer I saw before my film (unforgettable theater experience right there), but also because 13 Hours is a solid film and one that's worth seeing to honor the men who died in that tragic attack.

CONS:

• Michael Bay's tendencies still come through even at a lesser degree. Some characters dont have much to them, the editing could be less choppy (and just less in general), and it's slightly overlong
• Could we not make sure that the times of day lined up? Pretty laughable in a few scenes
• A few instances where the war action gets repetitive

PROS:

• Almost all of these bullets can be prefaced with "For a war movie..." but, for a war movie the cast does what they need to. I enjoyed the various soldiers and I think the originally odd choice of John Krasinski is actually one of the film's best aspects
• Even before the attacks start, it's an intense film. Give credit to the original score for a lot of that
• Solid action throughout and it really earns that R-rating near the end. If you get easily queasy, you might want to think about skipping this one
• The minimal politics within the film help to give it credibility. It won't sway anyone seeing it and that results in a film that acts as a tribute to these secret soldiers more than anything
• Logical and well-paced portrayal of the events that took place
• For a Michael Bay film, it's mostly well filmed and I think this is his truly best effort in years, despite the fact I enjoyed a couple of his other flicks since then

Rath's Review Score: 7.5/10