13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi
Bayhem gets real…
on 11 September 2012, two US diplomatic compounds were attacked in Benghazi, leading to the death of four Americans.The senseless tragedy was seized by the right wing in the US and used as a political wedge, casting long shadows of blame on the Obama administration and, more pointedly, then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Although no wrong-doing on the part of the administration was ever revealed, it became a hot-button topic in American politics, and to many, it still is. So who better to direct a docudrama of these unfortunate events than Michael Bay, the destruction-crazed popcorn auteur behind the Transformers franchise?
The film mainly concerns a group of security officers hired to protect CIA operatives. They’re ex-military, taking on the dangerous assignment for various reasons: for example, ripped super-soldier Jack Silva (top-billed John Krasinski) is on board because his realestate business is tanking. Bay makes sure you understand just how much these heroes-for-hire are risking, stacking them up against a pencil-pushing CIA chief (David Constable) who views our steely pro tags as dim-witted thugs and orders them to stand down when an ambassador’s compound is attacked. They defy orders and launch a counter-attack, kicking off the 13-hour battle of the title.
Perhaps for the best, Bay largely avoids politics and just concentrates on the actual ambush. The ensuing fire-fight takes up the bulk of the running time; though it can be difficult to figure out who is who – everybody’s bearded and there’s smoke everywhere, all the time – Bay’s penchant for explosion-porn is in full effect here. The script – based on Mitchell Zuckoff’s 2014 bestseller – uses so much narrative shorthand that it’s impossible to really understand why it’s all happening, but if you’re just in it for the action, 13 Hours delivers the goods.
THE VERDICT Michael Bay turns a divisive political issue into a film about machine guns, dirt, blood and gung-ho patriotism. Expect spectacle; insight, not so much.
› Certificate 15 Director Michael Bay Starring John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Pablo Schreiber, David Denman, Dominic Fumusat Screenplay Chuck Hogan Distributor Paramount Running time 144 mins