13 Hours/13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) - Bay portrays controversial recent history in generally thrilling actioner

♥♥♥

 

Impending danger is palpable on this poster for Michael Bay's 13 Hours

 

After the recent war effort of the West in Libya and the removal of dictator Gadaffi, the country breaks out in civil war. Of foreign powers, the US is subsequently just about the only country who tenaciously uphold small, fragile representations in Tripoli and Benghazi, - the latter of which gets attacked on September 11 2012 by Islamic terrorists.

13 Hours is written by Chuck Hogan (The Strain (2014-16)), based on Mitchell Zuckoff's (Robert Altman: The Oral Biography (2009)) nonfiction novel 13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi (2014), and directed by Michael Bay (The Rock (1996)). Bay manages to convey the camaraderie among the tough security team, who are hired to handle the local security for the CIA. Several of the film's action sequences are fantastically exciting, full of Bay's familiar penchant for flashy camera tricks (cinematography by Dion Beebe (Into the Woods (2014))) and first-class stunt expertise. 

John Krasinski (Something Borrowed (2011)), James Badge Dale (Iron Man 3 (2013)) and the rest of the cast are credible and add both humor and seriousness to the tale, which is shocking in itself, - in particular the intense silence from Washington, D.C. and the Pentagon, as shit hits the fan for hour upon hour in Benghazi.

It is in the emotionally dense episodes of 13 Hours that Bay comes up short; they are handled with the crude hands of an action director who ventures into unknown territory. Unfortunately, they are many, melodramatic and rather inelegant, which is a shame, because 13 Hours is an otherwise compelling and important story of contemporary heroism, well worth watching.

 

Related reviews:

 

Michael Bay: Armageddon (1998) or, Macho Men Save Earth From Disaster!  

Bad Boys (1995) - Bay's successful buddy cop debut is still fun

Michael Bay gives an interview about the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $

Box office: 69.4 mil. $

= Big flop

[13 Hours premiered January 12 (the AT&T Stadium, Texas) and runs 144 minutes. Mark Wahlberg was the initial choice for the lead, but he declined due to prior engagements. Filming took place in and around April 2015 in Malta and Morocco. The events portrayed in the film are contested but also remain politically highly controversial. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release Ride Along 2 and holdover hits The Revenant and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, to a 16.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 52.8 mil. $ (76.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Taiwan with 1.3 mil. $ (9 %) and South Korea with 1 mil. $ (1.4 %). The film did especially poor abroad and is Bay's lowest-grossing film to date. In the US, Paramount targeted the release at conservatives, inviting Republican politicians to screenings, and the Texas premiere raised funds for the Shadow Warriors Project, which helps private security personnel among others. Libya's foreign minister and information and culture minister have attacked the film, - but note that Libya is recognized as a failed state. 13 Hours is rotten at 51 % with a 5.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of 13 Hours?