Michael Bay makes an good apolitical movie (surprisingly).

Rating: 8/10 (23 December 2017)

The story behind this movie is fairly well known. The blame laid upon Clinton & Obama routinely spouted by the alt-right as evidence of their heinous natures. Funnily enough, they don't mention the attacks & deaths of US citizens during Bush Jr's term in office. (13 separate incidents and 60 US citizens killed). Where's the hand ringing and finger pointing regarding that? Even the GOP witchhunt found then Secretary of State Clinton blameless for the incident.
With that background, I began watching the movie fairly sceptically (especially given it's Bay heritage). I'm happy to say, however, that it wasn't the political aggrandising we've come to expect from the right side of Hollywood. Eastwood and the dross that was American Sniper could learn quite a bit by actually giving facts without the hyper-patriotic BS we've come to expect from a sector of Hollywood.
The movie is, instead, a gripping tale of the fate of the PMCs and State Department / CIA operatives during the ordeal in Benghazi. There's even a bit of pro-Libyan blurb towards the end, mentioning that the average Libyan was appalled by the carnage.
Some Bayism's occur, obviously, with slo-mo deaths, gore and lots of flashy explosions, but this doesn't detract from the meat of the story. Those who complain about these should really get a life and take it for what it is.
Equally so, the macho, bearded 'operators' are actually the sort of men one would expect to see in a high-level PMC. The amateurs at the Embassy compound contrast rather well and are more prevalent in the cowboy outfits like Blackwater and the like. This isn't Bay giving some sort of homo-erotic homage to these men, it's just a reality of the situation. They take extraordinary risks in extremely hostile environments and are very 'Alpha Male' personalities. Once again, deal with it.
In closing, it's a lot better than American Sniper and although 'gung ho' is a good ride from beginning to end.