Remember the Alamo

Rating: 8/10 (17 January 2016)

It's impossible to separate the politics from this "true story" of valor, but I can't imagine why anyone would even try. It's blatantly obvious that security at the compound was woefully inadequate, which was brought up by Ambassador Stevens and others down the chain; but the lack of response using F-16s and a C-130 gunship which were standing by cries out for Administration transparency. Instead, we were told it was an impromptu demonstration generated by a video on YouTube. Even if that lie had been true, so what? Does that mean those assets should not have been used and the security team told to "stand down" The movie doesn't offer any explanations for why no response was authorized, though it does beg the question for the reason for such a lack of response. The closest it comes is to show an image of the White House just after the attack begins, with the subscript, "The POTUS is briefed". Technically, the movie is pretty phenomenal in it's recreation of the events, though it is hard to follow at times--though that could be written off as an accurate portrayal of the fog of war. But enough already with even its occasional use of the shaky-cam. At times it looked like I was watching it through helmet-cams like someone playing "Call of Duty", which I guess could be considered a compliment to the film and/or the game.
One of the six, Mark Geist, equated this battle to holding the Alamo, though this turned out better for all but four of the defenders. That's a good analogy, with Al Qaeda standing in for General Santa Anna; but the likes of those "Texians" such as Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett, didn't have cameras from above beaming their actions back to Washington--or reinforcements being held idle only minutes away.