13 Hours. The film that gets it right.

Rating: 10/10 (2 December 2018)

I'll admit was a bit worried about seeing this film. Michael Bay has made some stinkers in recent years with the Transformers films, but this is a great return to good form and a big surprise. I was blown away by this film, just as I had been like when I saw Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge.
Being ex military, I understand the walk of life these brave men did everyday in their lives. Having read the book, been a former soldier, a U.S. Military History enthusiast, studied the history of terrorism, and also been personally attached to those in the DOD, I knew more information about this incident than most average Americans.
Bay conveys the incident without political bias, but the film indirectly points the finger at the fault of silence, poor choice/policy making, cover ups, and serious mistakes made by the Obama administration, left wing media, and other figures in DC. It doesn't drag us through the muddy mess of politics, as have other similar films. (Libya did become failed state and an ISIS stronghold, as did many places under Obama's administration)
The film portrays the incident as it happened, and how it was told in the book, and by the men who fought it. The films authenticity was inspected, approved and advised on very well by some of the personnel who fought that long night. Each character is easily remembered and can be told apart. They are likable, and portrayed as people who do amazing things, but also have everyday lives like people who do not serve. All the men and their lives in the are portrayed with incredible emotional weight and care you become attached to them.
The big surprise was seeing the likes of John Krasinski. I never expected to see him in a film like this. Truly a break away role for him. All the performances were non typical of a Michael Bay film. Not goofy, and just downright perfect. The action, the tension, the suspense are all excellent. Once the train gets going, Bay creates a wild and adrenaline rushed experience that is unforgettable. The action is not crazy stylized for thrills, but streamlined to convey the tension, horrors, and nightmare of the night in Benghazi on Sept 11th, 2012. It is pure combat footage of modern urban warfare.
The music is non typical of Bays movies. The score by Lorne Balfe is perfect for this film. It has its thrill moments, but ranks up there with the best emotionally jarring war film scores created by the likes of John Williams, James Horner, and other elite music writers. It draws you in along with the action, and the emotional performances.
This is a film that ranks up with war film experiences like Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, The Hurt Locker, Act of Valor, Patriots Day, Lone Survivor, American Sniper, and Zero Dark Thirty. Very pro American, and pro American soldier. Not right wing or nationalist.I was glad to hear that it won an Academy award of sound, but it deserved more recognition than that.
This is where I come to the only disappointing thing for this film. The left wing media, the democrat party, the progressive controlled academy awards, and left wing film reviewers had already made there choice of slapping bad reviews and hating the film before it was ever released. The pro Hillary fever was deeply rooted in nearly all of Hollywood, and was a subject they love leaving out of the light. (The films release timing just also happened to be 2016, the year she lost.) The films gross was not very high but did reasonably well in such a hostile left leaning cinematic market.
I have now seen this film do very well on blue ray and also it has a good following. People in America now know they were lied to about what happened that night. And hopefully the mistakes will have been learned from. I talk to other people about this film and the regret not having seen it when it was released. It grabs at my heart, and theirs was well. Hopefully it will be informative to the ignorant, and entitled attitude Millennial generation that freedom is not without cost. And Americans die, it matters.