Best military thriller to come out of Hollywood in a long time

Rating: 9/10 (14 January 2018)

13 HOURS is an exemplary true story war thriller set in Benghazi in 2012, where a number of US contractors working for the CIA found themselves under siege by an army of Libyan militants determined to destroy outside influence in their country in the aftermath of Colonel Gaddafi's demise. The film follows a siege scenario as various tough, trained figures attempt to defend two separate compounds from the murderous militants, and despite a lengthy running time this is never less than edge-of-the-seat great. The real surprise is that it was directed by Michael Bay and is far and away his best movie, head and shoulders above his usual bombastic flag-waving silliness. This goes for taught realism throughout and has some wonderful action set-pieces which utilise amazing sets, effects, and camerawork to put the viewer into the heart of pitched gun battles and the like. Intensity is the keyword here and as such the running time absolutely flies past. I can't recommend this enough; it's the best action-based modern-day military thriller I've seen since BLACK HAWK DOWN and is of a similar quality.