When news first broke that Michael Bay would be making the inevitable Benghazi movie, the (non-tinfoil-hat-wearing) world was of two minds. The most prominent reaction was groaning at two of today’s most tiresome utterances: Michael Bay and Benghazi. Those two references in the same sentence was reason enough to dismiss 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. And, of course, Bay made an aggressively apolitical yet patriotically charged movie about an elite group of gruff soldiers with wives and kids back home who are constantly proven correct over snippy, snide and specifically non- muscular politicians. It’s as much a sure thing as Tim Burton adapting another nostalgic intellectual property as an excuse to put Johnny Depp in weird makeup—you just have to expect it.
Less visible, yet still present, was the optimistic view that this was the movie Bay had been waiting to make his whole life. He’s done elements of this kind of story well in the past; say what you want about any of his movies, but the man knows how to shoot the American military in action. And we saw glimmers of hope in 2013’s Pain & Gain, a deplorable film on the whole but not completely dismissable for its terrific performances and occasional wit.
The truth about 13 Hours is somewhere in the middle. This is not Bay’s secret masterpiece, nor is it the predictably awful fare that we have come to expect. The film tells the story of the September 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi by militants on two American bases of operation: an above-board consulate hosting Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and a covert CIA base. The film is primarily from the point of view of the soldiers (John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Pablo Schreiber and others), who are hired hands and have no personal or political attachment to any particular diplomatic goals or the host country of Libya.
The defenses of both locations are weak, relying on the help of untrained or unreliable local militias. Making matters worse is that the head of CIA operations for the base (David Costabile) has little respect for the soldiers or their collective warzone experience, dismissing every concern they raise for either political or possibly personal reasons. As the attack commences and gradually escalates, bureaucracy is sidestepped as the soldiers take over, defending the CIA base from infiltration after the official consulate had been lost and with it the life of Ambassador Stevens.
Bay treads very carefully to avoid infusing the film with a specific political message, never mentioning either President Barack Obama or then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This is admirable yet futile, as any film on the subject will be inherently political. Neither conspiracy theorists nor defenders of Clinton will have their minds changed about the events, and both will likely become more trenchant in their stances after viewing. But there is an inherent distrust of government and a somewhat troubling worship of people who bleed red, white and blue as their only qualification.
It’s fine that the film views the government as being wrong and the soldiers as being right, but unexplored are the many occasions in history in which immediate deployment would have been exactly the wrong move. Everything in 13 Hours boils down to a premise that soldiers are nice people who love their families, while politicians are weaselly and have a troubling lack of American flag tattoos. Whatever your point is, you can make it without all that.
Once the action begins, Bay’s direction comes to life. Boxed in by four walls and enemies that seemingly come from all sides, the battle is as much survival horror as it is action, rivaling American Sniper’s stunning, terrifying battle sequences. Both sides of Bay are on full display here: the one who loves action and the soldiers who put themselves in harm’s way for our safety, and the one who hates anything and anyone who might be perceived as intelligent. If anything, 13 Hours shows that we shouldn’t give up on Bay just yet, but here’s hoping he hires a second director to handle dialogue and characterizations for his next outing.
Playing this week
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
The Shops at Stonefield, 244-3213
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip
Brooklyn
Concussion
Creed
Daddy’s Home
In the Heart of the Sea
Norm of the North
Point Break
Ride Along 2
Sisters
The Danish Girl
The Forest
The Hateful Eight
Violet Crown Cinema
200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 529-3000
Carol
Joy
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Big Short
The Revenant
