13 hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi – Movie Review
Michael Bay directs loud, stupid movies. Occasionally he will give us something solid, like “The Rock” (1996) and “Pain & Gain” (2013), but for the most part he gives us big budget bloated spectacles that offer very little more than huge explosions and top notch CGI. Just look at each installment of the “Transformer” or “Bad Boys” franchise. Those make up for half of his feature films. Some of Bay’s blockbusters do manage to be entertaining and there is no denying that the man can direct action. However, I feel he is not the right guy to take on a real life war story, just look at 2001’s “Pearl Harbor” as an example why. “13 hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” is better than “Pearl Harbor” but despite some solid performances from the cast, it winds up feeling overly long and monotonous.
On September 11, 2012, six elite ex-military turned contractors were working in Benghazi, Libya out of a secret CIA base. Although their superior (David Costabile) did not want the men getting involved in anything outside the base, the team which consisted of Jack Silva (John Krasinski), Tyrone Woods (James Badge Dale), Kris ‘Rone’ Paronto (Pablo Schreiber), Dave Boon’ Benton (David Denman), John Tig’ Tiegen (Dominic Fumusa) and Mark ‘Oz’ Geist (Max Martini) decided to come to the aid of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens (Matt Letscher) when his compound came under attack. The mission to protect the Ambassador failed, but that wasn’t the end of it. The enemy forces turned their sights onto the CIA base. The only thing the team could do was defend themselves and the remaining trapped Americans within the CIA from the invading forces.
There is a ton of action in “13 hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”, but it Michael Bay fashion, it is overkill. It’s not that the violence isn’t realistic. The last quarter of the film in which the enemy forces invade from every direction in groups is actually how real wars play out, but in the film, it feels like we are watching the same scene over and over again. At times it is also difficult to tell some of the main characters apart from each other, especially in the heat of battle. The cast is really good here, especially Krasninski and Dale. I just wish a better film was made out this event in recent history. Running at 144 minutes, “13 Hours” feels like it is playing out in real time. It just seems to go on forever.
By: Marc Ferman