13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers from Benghazi is directed by Michael Bay and is based on the true story of what had happened in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012.
In the film an American ambassador is killed and six members of a security team are defending the American diplomatic compound from terrorist attacks. We also get to know who these people are and see their personal lives back at home within the first hour of the film.
This two and a half hour film is packed with tension, action and explosions. When we see the action going on, it makes the audience feel as if we are in Benghazi with the soldiers.
As someone who is not a big fan of Bay, I am happy to report that 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is one of his best films. Even though it is not a great movie, it is his best in many years.
One of the best things about this movie was the way the action scenes were filmed. Although there is some “shaky cam” present, it goes away after a while. When it goes, the action scenes are filmed really well.
I also thought that there were solid performances from all of the cast, particularly from John Krasinski and James Badge Dale, who played the most interesting characters in the movie by far.
To a certain extent, it was pretty well-paced. As the action scenes were going on, I was entertained throughout.
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers is a little too long, which Bay’s movies tend to be. There are also moments when the movie drags and I found my mind wandering from time to time.
It is worth mentioning that Bay really does not get into any politics in this movie and plenty of people have a huge problem with it. While that may be the case, I never found that Bay disrespected the source material in any way.
Overall, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is a solid movie that I would recommend seeing in theaters. As being the first film that I have seen in 2016, I would say that the movie season is off to a good start.
