Based on the incredible true story of a militant attack on a US Embassy in 2012, 13 Hours is the story of 6 soldiers who put their lives on the line when everything goes wrong.
Tasked with defending a concealed American base on foreign soil, a specialized security group consisting of only 6 men are the only hope in fending off attacks from Islamic militants. Across the span of one night, events go from bad to worse as the group receive no fire support and more and more attackers begin to ascend upon the base. Starring John Krasinski (The Office U.S) and directed by Michael Bay (Transformers) this warzone based action thriller is a true life survival story pitted against the biggest of odds.
Consisting of all the trademarks of a Michael Bay film; Lots of action, poor character development and some rather uninspiring dialogue, 13 Hours is in parts a rather entertaining watch. However in a film about war, especially one so personal as it focuses on only really the six members of a team, there is very little emotion portrayed other than towards the end. After watching i struggled to remember one of the characters names let alone all six and this lack of character development is a flaw. Some of the pacing throughout the film is an issue as well. Once the action begins its thrilling tense and entertaining, but a lull after every other action sequence slows the film down and the wind gets knocked out of its sails. The cast were relatively okay with John Krasinski swapping the Office for the battlefield and is a nice new direction for the actor and was the obvious star whilst being surrounded by an ensemble of other burly bearded men who make the relationships between the team rather believable.
Not quite as over the top as some of Bay’s previous films, 13 hours: The secret soldiers of Benghazi is in parts, a thrilling modern war survival story set amongst a political backdrop. However considering its running time is over two hours; the opportunity to develop an emotional aspect to the film has been missed. Overall an enjoyable enough film that’s worth a watch, but don’t expect it to be anything like Saving Private Ryan or the Hurt Locker. Quite possibly with a different director at the helm, we may have seen a more gripping story which would have really helped the film. On a positive, it’s one of Michael Bay’s better films in the last few years. 6.5/10
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