'13 Hours' keeps the action at full throttle 鈥� for better or worse
'13' stars John Krasinski as former Navy SEAL Jack Silva. The movie聽depicts the deadly 2012 attacks on the American diplomatic compound in聽Benghazi, Libya.
'13' stars John Krasinski as former Navy SEAL Jack Silva. The movie聽depicts the deadly 2012 attacks on the American diplomatic compound in聽Benghazi, Libya.
For many movie critics, Michael Bay, the director of the聽鈥淭ransformers鈥� movies and 鈥淧earl Harbor,鈥� is Public Enemy No. 1 鈥� the聽auteur you love to hate. I don鈥檛 quite go along with this assessment. He鈥檚聽such a skillfully mindless moviemaker that I can鈥檛 really get too worked聽up about what he perpetrates. Hating him would be like hating a robot or a聽hologram. For all the crash-and-burn in his movies, they are, in the end,聽monumentally vapid.
Which brings me to 鈥�13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,鈥澛爓hich is Bay鈥檚 attempt to not only move away from "Transformers"聽territory but also to inject some real-world grit into his shenanigans. It聽depicts the deadly 2012 attacks on the American diplomatic compound in聽Benghazi, Libya, which killed, among others, US Ambassador Christopher Stevens,聽and on the secret CIA facility a mile away manned by 鈥減rivate security聽officers鈥� intended to beef up what had already been deemed an聽inadequately secured position.
Bay and his screenwriter, Chuck Hogan, adapting the nonfiction bestseller 鈥�13 Hours,鈥� by Mitchell Zuckoff and the members of the Annex聽Security Team, resolutely avoid any overt political inferences. Hillary Clinton's name聽is never uttered, and the owner of the blame for the聽sorry state of security is never specified.聽I鈥檓 not a fan of apolitical political movies, in part because it鈥檚 a sham聽position: To be apolitical about a subject like Benghazi is indeed to be聽political. (Previous candidates in this vein include 鈥淭he Hurt Locker鈥� and聽鈥淎merican Sniper,鈥� whose audience this film will no doubt mainline.)
On the other hand, did we really want to see a political movie by聽Michael Bay? (Folks, this is a rhetorical question.) He does well here what聽he always does well: He keeps the action at full throttle. This is also what聽he does so annoyingly: He聽always聽keeps things at full throttle. Or聽almost always 鈥� in a few sequences he slows things down so we can get 聽teary family tableaux from the home front.
John Krasinski leads the beefcake corps as former Navy SEAL Jack聽Silva 鈥� he learns his wife is pregnant not long before the mortar shells go聽boom 鈥� and it鈥檚 impossible during the siege not to think of the Alamo,聽with Jack standing in for Davy Crockett.聽聽鈥�13 Hours鈥� is better than the 鈥淭ransformers鈥� movies and 鈥淧earl Harbor鈥澛燽ut, after seeing it, the only question I came away with is, Will this movie聽hurt Hillary Clinton? Grade: B- (Rated R for strong combat violence throughout, bloody images, and language.)