Filmology Rating: 2.5 out of 4

 

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, is the story of when the American Ambassador was killed during an attack at a U.S. compound in Libya. In 2012, the threat level in Benghazi was deemed by the US government as "critical". When everything seemed to go wrong, these six men came to the aid of the embassy even when they didn’t have to. These men weren’t currently part of the US military. They were former Marines, Rangers, or Navy Seals, and were now contracted protective detail for a nearby building. Protecting the Embassy was not their mission but if they didn’t respond, then everyone there would soon be killed. I really did like this movie. I thought that it was an interesting story that truly showed the bravery of these men. I felt like this movie honored them with how realistic and emotional it was. It had a very similar feel to the movie Blackhawk Down so if you were a fan of that movie, then this movie is for you. This movie was one of the better Michael Bay films that he has made in quite some time. Bay is known to throw excess explosions, slow motion running, and close up shots of people’s faces at you like no tomorrow. However, this film felt much more mature than his recent work. Throughout this movie when it did have those things, it felt like it was needed and added intensity. I haven’t seen that from him in a long time. He did however have a LOT of shaky camera work at the beginning of the movie and for scenes where there was no need for that. Action and running scenes are ok to have a shaky cam but for simple dialogue? Not needed at all and it got a little irritating. So this how situation in Benghazi, this instance was something that I vaguely knew about and I felt like this film presented a well laid out time table of the events that unfolded. One thing that this movie does a good job with is the relationship between the main two characters in the film. There is a brotherly bond there and it makes for an emotional movie as these men fight for each other’s lives. At times, this movie can feel like a military recruitment video but at other times, does have genuine emotion to it. This movie is far from perfect but I feel it did a good job of showing the situation in a well laid out fashion and in an “entertaining” fashion. The things these men went through were tough to watch but I feel like it did these men in showing their bravery.

Rating: See It 

-Nick