Michael Bay is the definition of big, silly action cinema. For example, his decade-long focus on Transformers. This year, he returns to reality with 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi.
Based on true events, the film focuses on the brutal September 11, 2012 assault on the US Consulate in Benghazi by Islamic militants and the six men of the Annex Security Team (former soldiers assigned on special operative/diplomat protection missions in the region) who engaged in the fierce firefight against them to save American lives.
Bay could have mined the events' complex contemporary issues, but unsurprisingly creates a straightforward, action-packed war film with little nuance. It begins rudimentarily, with long-winded setup and characters developed with interchangeable traits (facial hair) and backstories (patriotic men with wife and kids at home) before giving into pure 'Bayhem'. There's entertainment in the big gunfights and explosions but it lacks resonance, clarity and originality (Bay even reusing his following bomb shot from Pearl Harbour).
The cast is a solid good group of non A-listers, helping the film's reality. But they're given little to convey. John Krasinski is best served with some emotive scenes, aided nicely by James Badge Dale.
Despite more brains than Transformers, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi is still a standard war film that glosses over deeper issues.
