13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Written By: Aaron Meyer

The true story about a CIA team of special ops soldiers with a mission to protect an American Ambassador in Benghazi.  After an attack on a secret compound that officially doesn't exist according to the U.S. Government, it's up to the six highly trained soldiers to not only save but also defend the compound in Lybia until help can arrive.


The easiest way to describe this movie is that if you were a fan of Black Hawk Down, then you will more than likely be a fan of this movie.  Michael Bay does a good job here of making you feel as though you are in the fight along with the Special Forces on the ground.  The shaky cam techniques here are apparent but not nearly as over used or nausea inducing as other films about a similar subject matter have in the past.

Going into the film knowing it was directed by Michael Bay I was expecting a lot of over the top action sequences and big explosions.  While there are only a few explosions that seem a little over the top there is not nearly as many as I expected.  Bay does a good job keeping the story moving and keeps the action relatively grounded here.  After the let down of the Transformers series I had started to really find it hard to be excited about a lot of his work because his name has become synonymous with popcorn action flicks with stories that are as deep as a puddle.  However I have to say I was surprised by what Bay has accomplished with 13 Hours.

Speaking of story line, while I am all about the true events aspect of this film Bay does a good job with the material he has to work with.  Telling the US side of the attack and what the experiences were.  The impending September 11th anniversary which puts all troops over seas on high alert is spoken about, albeit briefly.  The biggest issue is that we never really find out much more than that and that the attack that happens is just an orchestrated one that happens on the anniversary of the biggest terror attack America has seen.  We don't get to see much more from the side of the enemy here.  Most of them come off as just an opposing force who hate Americans and wave ISIS flags around.  Killing a faceless enemy lessens the impact a little bit in my opinion.

My biggest issue with the film, besides not expressing much on the controversy and cover up that happened overseas about the incident, was the seemingly forced feel to the character development.  The beginning of the movie does well as we are introduced to each of the soldiers and get to know each one.  We see them talking over a Skype like messaging system to their family back home.  However this continues in spots through out the film.  At one point it was almost like Bay thought to himself, "well so far we've shown very little personal side to everyone and I'm not sure where to tie all of the character development in so lets have 15 minutes straight of characters talking to their families at home."  This could have been done in a much more creative way that could have been interwoven through out the story.  The soldiers in the film feel mostly the same and often are hard to tell apart from each other by looks alone since they all have similar facial hair and clothing for most of the film due to the fact that they try to blend in when out and around the country in civilian clothing.

The movie is ultimately a feel good, proud to be an American story that inspires Patriotism and plays well to its audience.  It does a good job at showing what happens overseas to our soldiers, family members and friends who head over seas and put their lives on the line daily for us at home.  The end of the film has a nice tribute to the fallen CIA members over the years as well.  I'm glad that Bay took the time to use the accounts of the people who lived through it to tell their side of the story which was pretty much silenced on news stations like those such as C-SPAN that feature nothing but talking heads.  I give this movie my recommendation for anyone who is a fan of military movies however I only wish Bay had done a little more showing the controversy that surrounded the events as well.

FINAL SCORE 3.5 / 5