13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi | Film Review

On the anniversary of 9/11 in the year 2012, 6 former Navy SEALs, now contracted soldiers – known as the GRS, Global Response Staff – found courage in chaos as a coup was raining hell upon them in the heart of Benghazi. A US Ambassador and his men were under attack while these brave souls were tucked conveniently aside, a mere mile away, watching it all unfold.

After our heroes (led by James Badge Dale and a surprisingly well-cast John Krasinski) decide valor is more honorable than the regulatory process, the men ignore the stand-down order and begin an all-night ordeal of assaults and firefights tense enough to make every one of us feel the surge of adrenaline coursing through our veins as they fight for the very right to survive. These are retired soldiers contracted by the CIA for protection. They were not ordered to defend the Ambassador, and it is worth noting that they very easily could have stayed at their comfortable CIA post, free from harm. That is exactly why this is a story of unknown heroes.

I bet when the titular secret soldiers were told their story was going to be feature-length film, the idea that the guy who directed the ‘Bad Boys’ and ‘Transformers’ flicks was not exactly who they had in mind. I’m sure they thought about Scorsese, Spielberg, maybe even Edward Zwick. But in all that is holy, not The Bay. Not the King of the slow-motion action scene (Zack Snyder is an amateur by comparison), the guy whose lens finds every female on screen unnecessarily disrobed at the most impromptu times, the guy who made a chose to have robots rap – not THAT guy, right? For all of Michael Bay’s achievements in directing, one thing continues to allude him: Respect.

You will find no such lack of respect here. Sure, Bay has made more than a few films that almost put me under the NFL’s concussion protocol due to the force at which I slammed my head onto the concrete (‘Transformers 2’ and ‘Pain and Gain’ – I’m looking at you), but there is NO director working who does bro-hero Americana better than this man. If you have heroic men doing heroic deeds, all in the name of what’s right, this is my guy.

For all of the debate on how accurate ’13 Hours’ is, for the details I have been inspired to dig up after the film, it sure seems as though Bay did his homework on this one. Many accounts verify the actions stated here, especially the ‘stand-down’ order the CIA hotly contests. Maybe it’s my lack of trust in the U.S. Government, but I just personally find more truth in the story of the men on the ground – grit and guns in hand – more so than bureaucrats salvaging their name. More importantly, Bay allows this story to unfold, giving the audience the opportunity to understand the tragic circumstances of this horrendous attack and why it has caused such a political nightmare for everyone involved.

Ignore the detractors who are looking to pin another ‘Pearl Harbor’ blunder on Michael Bay and give ‘13 Hours’ a chance. These men feel like a real unit – from the humor to the bravado – this is an efficiently elite team all of us would be graced to have our back if our home was under siege, and Michael Bay has done a damn fine job bringing their harrowing journey to the safety of the silver screen.

These brave men earned their Trident that day.

Aaron Peterson
The Hollywood Outsider