Effective drama revisits our flirtation with WWIII

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2001)

The Cuban Missile Crisis is the one event in our recent history that forced Americans to think about their own mortality, and the possibility that not all wars happen somewhere else. The decisions being made during those days in October, 1962 would have a profound effect on the lives of millions of people throughout the world. For the most part, THIRTEEN DAYS does an effective job of recreating the desperation felt by both the leaders and the citizens during this time of crisis.
The events leading up to the stare-down between the US and the USSR have been well documented, so there is little new ground covered in this movie. The payoff for the audience is to watch the actors in their roles as world leaders, and to hopefully get a sense of the conflict not only among the different factions of the government, but also within the mind of each individual. Most of the performances are first rate. Bruce Greenwood, as President Kennedy, is impassioned without being hammy, no small accomplishment given the emotional nature of the situation.(One aside--was it just me or did Bruce Greenwood bear an uncanny resemblance to Dan Patrick of ESPN and Sportcenter fame? For me this was a bit disconcerting, since "presidential" is not one if the adjectives I would use to describe the entertaining Mr. Patrick.) Presidential Advisor Kenny O'Donnell is played with some restraint by Kevin Costner, who allowed the other members of the cast to carry their share of the load. His accent is somewhat overpowering and forced at the beginning of the movie, but either he toned it down later, or I became used to it. Either way, it stopped being a distraction. The best performance is turned in by Steven Culp, who was totally believable as Robert Kennedy. We see Robert as a tough, intelligent man thrust into an almost no win situation--he is expected to be the voice of reason and a guiding light while surrounded by dissenting opinions as to what is "right". Steven Culp shows him as a man who accepts this responsibility because his country needs him to, even if he sometimes doubts his worthiness for the role.