13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)

Grade: B-

Starring: John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Max Martini and David Costabile

Premise: A half-dozen CIA security contractors fight to defend a U.S. embassy and save a U.S. ambassador’s life in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012.

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language, and some disturbing images

It’s difficult to know where to start in reviewing 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi because it comes with such baggage, so I’ll start with three main points.

1)      I am not a politically-inclined person. I don’t actively read about politics, watch debates, or root for (or against) different politicians. I remember hearing about the events depicted in 13 Hours around the time they occurred, but I didn’t know many specifics going into the movie today, and I did not go in with an agenda. Thus, to my untrained eyes and mind, 13 Hours doesn’t reek of politics. Hilary Clinton’s name is never mentioned, the mostly-Muslim Libyan nationals in the film are shown both ways--some as people who want to attack an American compound and some as people who were sorry when an American ambassador was killed in the violence that occurred (sorry for the spoiler), and there is no particular grandstanding, even if it is made clear that back-up security forces were not deployed to help a vastly-outnumbered CIA security force once things became dangerous. Bottom line: I can’t tell you if the film is strongly leaning one way or not (I also obviously can’t tell you if the film is truthfully depicting these events or not), but, ultimately, it didn’t seem to me to be any more politically-charged than, say, 2013’s Captain Phillips, another film about a headline-making true event that involved the military.

2)      It definitely wasn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen that was directed by Michael Bay. When I first saw trailers for the movie and the notoriously action-first, scantily-glad-women-and-explosions-galore director’s name was mentioned, I laughed off any thought that I would see it. I mean, come on—the last film Michael Bay directed, 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction was, if not the worst film I’ve seen in theaters in the last five years, in the top three for sure (he’s directed all four Transformers movies, both Bad Boys movies, and Pearl Harbor). Well, despite an obvious focus on violent action (see below), the movie doesn’t scream Bay. There are no scantily-clad women, and slow-mo shots and shots focusing at length on explosions are few and far between.

3)      There’s no reason to see this movie except to see the action. Like I said, there’s no grandstanding or overly-political tones running through the film, but it’s also a movie based on a violent event…and it’s also a Michael Bay film, so, with the exception of the first 30, 45 minutes of set-up, it’s all automatic weapons and flames and flying RPGs and falling bodies and grunts yelling back and forth to each other. There’s no discussion of President Obama, Hilary Clinton, or any other popular American figures. There’s no deep characterization or great acting. It’s certainly not an art film. And oh by the way, there are plenty of other movies about modern urban warfare you could watch that did this kind of thing better, from Black Hawk Down to American Sniper.

I didn’t go in with any expectations, really—other than the fact that I knew it was directed by Michael Bay and, therefore, figured I knew what the movie would consist of—so I’m not really either disappointed or enthused. It wasn’t a great movie. Like I said, there are plenty of other contemporary-military-action movies you could watch instead that are done better, not to mention other movies about recent international events (like Captain Phillips and 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty). There is some effective cinematography, some invigorating action and suspense, and some decent characterizations. It also does highlight and depict an event most will remember hearing a little bit about in the news. It wasn’t a terrible way to kick off my 2016 theater-going experience.

Plot

Following the 2011 Libyan civil war in which dictator Muammar Gaddaffi was ousted from office, control of the country’s government and people was contentious, to say the least. This led to security concerns for an American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, which housed a U.S. Ambassador (Chris Stevens, played by Matt Lescher) and several CIA agents and analysts (including David Costabile’s head officer, identified only as ‘Bob’ or ‘Chief’). But, of course, a large security force would likely attract attention to this covert compound, so the CIA brought in security contractors with military experience to form an elite, highly-trained team. Among them are Jack Silva (John Krasinski) and Tyrone Woods (James Badge Dale), each of whom has been deployed many times, to the detriment of their family life. But they each feel a call to duty, which comes in handy on the 11^th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, when the location of the ambassador and the compound becomes the worst-kept secret in Benghazi. First, crowds of armed men swarm the lavish poolside mansion in which the ambassador lives, forcing the security detail to drive a mile up the road in the dark to try and save and protect him. Then, they have to maneuver back to the CIA’s compound, giving up its location, and then they have to dig in and fight against a much larger, more heavily-armed force while the Chief tries to tell them to cease fire, while they can’t manage to call up any reinforcements from nearby American military outposts, and, in the commotion, can hardly tell friend from foe.

What Works?

As I sat in my seat before 13 Hours started, a weird sensation overtook me. It’s not that I was afraid it would be a bad movie; I was afraid that it would be a good one, and that I would favorably look upon a work by Michael Bay. Ultimately, while 13 Hours isn’t a great film, it’s probably one of Bay’s better ones. When most people think of his 2001 Pearl Harbor flick, they probably just remember that it was long and that it was mostly about an insufferably-bland love triangle; people forget that the December 7, 1941, attack scene was actually pretty spectacular. There was also some decent action in 2003’s Bad Boys II. Bay knows how to direct action, and action that doesn’t consist of giant, interchangeable, computer-generated robots punching each other is a big step up. For the most part, he knows how to keep the energy high through the second two-thirds of 13 Hours, which depict how things went once the action started, and he leaves you with some resounding images. Remember the unbelievable, epic shot in Harbor that followed a bomb falling from the Japanese plan all the way through the deck of U.S.S. Arizona? Bay does something similar in 13 Hours with a Libyan-fired mortar round, and it is a beaut. There’s also a terrific scene in which people are forced to hide in a bathroom and lock themselves in, and then a horrifying plume of black smoke bursts from under the door, indicating that the attackers, unable to get at their quarry, have dumped gasoline and set the building on fire. It’s a nightmarish image.

Like I said, there isn’t much to recommend in 13 Hours besides the action, but there a few nice, quieter moments. Some great cinematography shows the compound and the neighboring city from above—similar wide-angle shots are effective at showing swarms of attackers creeping through the underbrush as they converge on the compound in the darkness. One brief scene showing one of the grunts’ wives back home (Wrenn Schmidt) attempting to relay some important family news packs an emotional punch. And, try as I might to focus on the thin characterizations, some of the actors make an impression. Krasinski and Dale managed to win me over despite their fairly clichéd, sensitive-family-man dialogue during quiet moments in the midst of the conflict. Costabile (who may look familiar to viewers from his stint as Walter White’s short-lived goody-goody lab partner Gale in Breaking Bad) manages to flesh out the “suit” type of CIA agent he’s given. Also, Pablo Schreiber, playing the clown of the security team, has a very memorable, emotional reaction when he realizes a huge convoy of ominous-looking armed vehicles pulling up to the gates are actually “friendlies”.

Like most movies of this ilk (including last year's American Sniper and Lone Survivor), 13 Hours ends with a somber epilogue showing the names and pictures of the real-life figures who died. No matter what you think of the rest of the movie, it is an effective tribute to their memory and their efforts. 

What Doesn’t Work?

For the most part, nothing that happens before the action starts (probably 45 minutes in) really registers or matters. That’s not really a surprise in a Bay movie, or any movie of this nature, where the action is all that matters. With the exception of the Krasinski and Dale characters, who are given significant screen time, the grunts blend together, a bunch of ra-ra bearded men who you can’t really tell apart nor care much about despite a montage of them talking with their families on their cell phones and iPads (I appreciate the effort, but 13 Hours is just the most recent in a long list of movies about military types that portray every single grunt as a sensitive family man). There’s a lot of lingo and/or clichéd dialogue (“you do not have authority”; “I’m proud to know Americans like you”; “we are the only hope they have”; “we are all gonna die if you don’t send somebody”; “I just wanna get home to my family”, etc…), and some of the fast-cut editing is disorienting. And, though—as I mentioned—Bay knows how to direct action, as was true of his Transformers movies, when the “climactic action sequence” composes over half the film, it gets draining and even dull after a while. There’s also an embarrassingly-uninteresting montage of early hours of September 11, 2012, that are supposed to the viewers’ tension in preparation for the dramatic action to come but really shows a whole lot of nothing—this scene could and should have been cut, as it adds little to the later action.

Content

13 Hours is pretty intense, with a high onscreen body count, lots of bullet wounds, and some pretty gruesome injury images. There are plenty of F-words from our grunts as well, which is to be expected. This isn’t Transformers, where every good guy who dies either was easily replaceable or gets to be brought back.

Bottom Line

While 13 Hours isn’t the political soapbox it could’ve been (neither Hillary Clinton nor President Obama is even mentioned once), it’s not a great movie, either. Michael Bay (yes, THAT Michael Bay) actually directs with some restraint, but there are better-filmed and better-acted movies about real-life international political/military incidents you could watch (Black Hawk Down, Zero Dark Thirty, Captain Phillips, American Sniper). Still, there’s some pretty intense stuff, tons of action, some well-filmed sequences, and decent performances by guys like John Krasinski and James Badge Dale. January is usually a wasteland for non-Oscar-contending movies, but this one will hold your interest—it’ll teach you a real-life thing or two as well.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)

Directed by Michael Bay

Screenplay by Chuck Hogan

Based on the book “13 Hours” by Mitchell Zuckoff

Rated R

Length: 144 minutes