13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Michael Bay is most widely known for the Transformers franchise is recent years, but there was a time when he was on the cutting edge of action movies and special effects. Sure the Transformers films all feature signature Michael Bay explosions, but they’ve become so repetitive and dull that they’ve nearly ruined what made him so popular in the first place. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is a return to form for Bay and ditches most of the transforming robots glamor in favor of more gritty and realistic action. It’s classic Bay for the modern age.

And for good reason, too. 13 Hours tells the true account of six ex-military soldiers turned private security operators who are tasked with defending an American diplomatic compound and secret CIA station in Benghazi, Libya from an Islamic militant attack that happened on September 11, 2012. It’s one of the most dangerous places in the world to be, and help isn’t coming anytime soon.

13 Hours is reminiscent of action war films like Black Hawk Down or Saving Private Ryan with extremely military-like depictions of realistic explosions and gunfire. It’s controlled chaos that help grounds the film to its true story origins. The first quarter of the film provides an overview of the Global Response Staff (GRS) members consisting of "Rone" (James Badge Dale), Jack (John Krasinski), “Oz” (Max Martini), “Tig” (Dominic Fumusa), “Tanto” (Pablo Schreiber) and “Bub” (Tony Stephens). They’re all ex-military family men who are looking to provide for their loved ones. These are real people and not just characters on screen. 13 Hours captures the sense of camaraderie that’s often absent from these types of films.

Once the attack begins it’s pretty much non-stop action from that point on. Initially it’s overwhelming. There is so much happening all at once that it can be difficult to follow exactly what’s going on. The fact that every soldier looks nearly identical with their grizzled beards doesn’t help much, either. There are moments where things settle down for a bit (the attacks come in waves throughout the night), but you can always feel the tension that something could happen at any moment.

At no point does the action ever feel over the top or unnecessary. Bay lets the actions and the story speak for itself. John Krasinski’s Jack is the main focus of the film, and he does a good job at playing a soldier and a more serious role in general. It’s nice to finally see him with more of a range than just the comedies he is known for.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi treats its source material with respect, and in return audiences are treated to Michael Bay’s best film in recent years. It’s action-packed and utterly gruesome at times. War is ugly, regardless of what side you are on, and it doesn’t let you forget it.