Patriotic and Sad

Rating: 7/10 (15 January 2016)

I saw "13 Hours:The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" starring, John Krasinski-Aloha, Leatherheads; James Badge Dale-The Walk, World War Z; Max Martini-Fifty Shades of Grey, The Unit_tv and Matt Letscher-Her, The Mack of Zorro.
This is based on a true story about a small group of military men fighting an Alamo type fight-a few men holding off big forces-in Benghazi, Libya on September 11th of 2012. They like that date-9/11-in that part of the world. It's directed by Michael Bay, who knows his way around an action movie-The Transformer movies, Bad Boys movies, Armageddon and The Rock, just to name a few he had a hand in. Matt plays the American ambassador to Libya that is stranded at the embassy when it is attacked. John, James and Max are GRS soldiers used as security for the C.I.A. that are stationed about a mile away. If you have never heard of the GRS-I know I haven't before this movie, it stands for Global Response Staff-they are the secret soldiers in the sub title of the movie. They are made up of special-ops guys from different branches of the military, such as SEALS, Army and Marines. From about 5:00 pm until around 6:00 am the next day-13 hours-the GRS helped save lives and fight off enemy soldiers until help could arrive. Not all survive but a lot more of the enemy bite the dust in truly heroic fashion. Some of the fighting is pretty graphic; I remember one of the GRS walking around after a fierce battle with his arm almost detached, just hanging by a few tendons and muscles. Most of the men have families back home and all they can think about is just getting back to their homes safely and seeing their loved ones again. I don't know about anyone else but it made me feel patriotic and thankful of the men & women who give their all for our country. It's rated "R" for violence, bloody images and language and has a running time of 2 hours & 24 minutes. I enjoyed it and would buy it on Blu-Ray.