Review of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) by Lifeaswe K — 19 Jul 2016

13 hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is a biographical war film directed by Michael Bay and written by Chuck Hogan. It stars James Badge Dale, John Krasinski, Max Martini, Pablo Schreiber, and Toby Stephens on the main roles.

Based on a true story, the film follows six members of a security team who fight to defend the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya after waves of terrorist attacks on September 11, 2012.

The directing in this movie is really good, and for that I have to credit Michael Bay, because even though he has made some not-so-good movies in the recent years, I knew he had talent and he certainly shows it in this one. The cinematography is also great by Dion Beebe, but what stands out to me the most is the score composed by Lorne Balfe. It brought up the emotions when needed to and it made us feel for these people a lot throughout.

The acting is superb all around, but the two shinning stars are James Badge Dale and especially John Krasinski, who had to play out most of the emotional scenes and he pulled out like a pro.

The movie has caused some controversy since it is based on a true story that happened back in 2012, but the politic elements are smartly not touched upon on this movie as we are really just seeing the movie from these six guy's eyes. They do not know what is happening yet they have the courage to take some action and actually save lives. It did start to feel like it is a bit too long by the end, and it does have some shaky cam here and there, but really those are the only negatives that I found.

In my opinion this is a very well made movie, and definitely one of, if not the, best Bay film ever .