'Murica!

Rating: 8/10 (13 January 2016)

I had my worries at first, I thought 13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI may end up being too political, especially with the current election season, there may be pundits/opportunists who may use "13 Hours" and stretch its purpose. But I'm glad director Michael Bay doesn't focus on that, I'm glad he makes it be about the heroes and I think that's the right way to go about telling this tragic story. 13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI is intense, it's explosive, it's the best war movie since "Saving Private Ryan" and "Black Hawk Down" and it's one of those movies that solely aims to make you feel patriotic.
Based on Mitchel Zukoff's book and adapted by Chuck Hogan who gave us 2010's "The Town," 13 HOURS is about those long bloody 13 hours when the U.S. embassy and compound in Libya were under attack, it's about the security team defending their place, it's like a modern day Alamo story.
With the timing of this film's arrival, will the mainstream media blow this out of proportions again with theories on whether or not Secretary Hillary Clinton did all she could to send help, if the attack was motivated by anti-Islam video protests and so on and so forth, will it spark the controversies again? I don't know, that's out of my control. What I do know and what I do appreciate about 13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI, although it slightly touches on those possible theories, it keeps the focus tight on these few men, these few former soldiers who have families, who have real struggles, but they're willing to protect the lives of others first.
13 HOURS: THE SECRET SODLIERS OF BENGHAZI has everything you'd expect in a Michael Bay, it's action-packed, it has that signature spinning shot, heavy emphasis on explosions, lots of firepower, beautiful women, it even has similar VFX shots that Bay applied on his 2001 war film, "Pearl Harbor," but minus the lovey dovey romance, thankfully. Those who know me well know that I'm not a Michael Bay fan, but this 13 HOURS is just a good old fashion good guy vs. bad guy. Very testosterone-driven. Of course real life conflicts in the real world are much greyer and more nuanced than that, so perhaps audiences would be divided over this but this film, for what it's trying to do, it does its job, and it doesn't demonize the Muslims, and it doesn't shy away either, it's as gritty and as violent as it gets, it will make you feel uncomfortable about the idea of war or killing somebody without diminishing the courage of these few men who at the end of the day just want to go home to their families. Finally, a Michael Bay movie I can be proud of watching.