Sometimes you just have to let an action film be an action film

Rating: 7/10 (27 June 2016)

I read critic reviews on metacritic, and as expected many were very harsh in assessing 13 Hours. It's easy to see that these critics don't want an action movie to be what it is: an action movie. That's not a fair assessment. That's like watching a comedy like Dumb and Dumber and arguing it wasn't Shakespearean enough. You have to let it be what it is. Comedies, action films, etc...These aren't art or poetry films, but nor are they trying to be. They are what they are, and if you don't know what you are getting going into watching them (or you don't accept them for what they are), then the criticism is on you.
Now, I knew what I was getting right when I popped the DVD in. I was getting an action movie from Michael Bay. Fortunately, this was not Transformers with robots flying in the air and talking, but was at least based on a true story. Refreshing.
Yes, you have your "Bayisms" all throughout, but to argue these things at this point from a critic standpoint is so cliché, you score no points dissecting them. Just let them be, as long as they are bare minimal and covered in smoke and gunfire enough that they are at a new low for his films. And that they were. No points lost in this for Bayisms. In fact, I kind of liked them here.
So as far as action movie films go, this film is a slam dunk. It nails everything you would want and hope for. To say the action scenes were suspenseful and intense would be an understatement. You are glued to the screen in a trance during the majority of the movie and its gunfights. You can't even blink.
What I found fascinating and totally relieved in was that some people actually did live. I had sketchy details of the events, but I swore I heard that everyone died, and I was really depressed to think that was the case much of the time. But thankfully, there are many who do survive, and that was not only uplifting but also a surprise. It wasn't a full blown ambush with no hope of survival at all.
This is one of Bay's better movies. It's got heart, is based on a heroic true story, has some good actors, has some funny scenes, entertains, and has a nice ending. For me, it gets a high score because it is riveting and gripping and delivers everything you can expect and ask for from an action film, and a little bit more.
8/10