Director: Michael Bay
Writer: Chuck Hogan (Screenplay) Mitchell Zuckoff (Book)
Starring: John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Pablo Schreiber, David Denman, Dominic Fumusa, Max Martini
Plot: As an American ambassador is killed during an attack at a U.S. compound in Libya, a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Great Action Thriller
Story: 13 Hours starts with the history of what had been going on in Libya leading up to the events of the secret CIA base that had been watching for black market deals, this base was held by on 6 elite soldiers. The team is led by Tyrone ‘Rone’ Woods (Dale) and includes the men his trusts Jack Silva (Krasinski), Tanto (Schreiber), Boon (Denman), Tig (Fumusa) and Oz (Martini).
The team work in Benghazi the one city in the world where all the other embassies have left but the American one refuses to leave. As the weeks go by they go through chases but mostly just waiting for something to go wrong. When the US Embassy gets invaded the unit must wait for the moment to fight back and now they find themselves in the middle of the chaos needing to survive using all their skills.
Thoughts on 13 Hours
Characters/Performance – Jack Silva is the latest member of the unit, he has left his family behind for what should have been an easier role but not in the middle of a deadly conflict he must use all his skills to survive. Rone is the leader of the unit, he knows how to think fast and knows how to keep his unit in order. The rest of the soldiers all come off like something we have seen before, not getting enough extra development.
Performance wise, John Krasinski brings us a performance not many people believed he could have done and this is great to see. James Badge Dale is also good throughout the film. the rest of the cast do all do great jobs as we are left believing they are real soldiers.
Story – The story is based on the real events, we get to see how the Americans had to fight against the Libyan revolution against the odds in a desperate attempt to survive the night in hopes of getting rescued. This is slightly long as a story but it does work as we get time to look at the human aspect pre-and during the event in question. There isn’t any twists in the story it is just about the survival.
Action/Thriller/War – The action is big and well created war like battle sequences that make us believe we are in the middle of the battle. We are left on the edge of our seat wondering who will happen next. The war side of the film is all about the modern wars which mostly revolve around revolutions in country that our Americans are trapped in.
Settings – Each setting is designed perfect for the conflict scenes, we are always thrown into the action and this is just how the modern war would feel.
Special Effects – All the effects are used to make for the explosions look great as well as showing the good mix of practical and special effects.
Final Thoughts – This is one of the best modern, full-blown action war movies of the recent years and it fully engages with the audience even if some of the unit are not developed as well as others.
Overall: Brilliant watch for the modern warfare film fans.
Rating
