Review: 13 Hours

Release: January 15, 2015

Director: Michael Bay
Genre: Action, War, Drama
Starring: John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Max Martini, Dominic Fumusa, Pablo Schreiber

During 13 hours, one of the characters (I couldn't tell you his name) says to Jim Halpert, "Is it me, or does it seem like everybody knows what's going on but us?" Which sums up how I felt about the movie pretty well.

I went into this movie with an open mind. I talk a lot of shit about Michael Bay, maybe even more than he deserves, and I wanted to be sure to bring an unbiased review. I didn't think the trailers looked all too bad, and I thought maybe, just maybe, Bay had it in him to direct a quality, competent, coherent film given a serious subject matter.

And admittedly, there were some aspects of this film I liked. Loved even. But it was weighed down entirely by horrendous, awful cinematography, wooden characters, and shoddy writing.

Why does Bay need to film every single scene like its a high-tension action sequence? From the moment the film opens, the camera appears to be operated by someone balancing on a ball. Even dialogue scenes have a million different cuts, some shot at odd angles, breaking the 180 degree rule, making it hard to follow. I never understood people saying that they got motion sickness at films like Cloverfield, and I actually love shakycam when it's done correctly in the right situation. Here, it's messy and distracting.

The film follows buff Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) who has a beard, an attractive wife, and two daughters. He's ex-military, and he is assigned to (I think?) guard a top-secret CIA base in Libya, which is just a mile away from a US Embassy, where an American ambassador has arrived for some reason. When the embassy is attacked by an unidentified local militia, Bearded Jim Halpert and his team go on a rescue mission to save the ambassador. This alerts the militia to the CIA base, where they have to return and defend it.

This is probably a pretty butchered summary, but honestly, as someone with no background knowledge at all on this event, this is what I got. This movie is incredibly confusing. It introduces you to the squad of characters, but as soon as the attacks start, you are suddenly following a bunch of different teams who never seemed to be introduced, and when they're all buff white guys with bushy beards and military clothes, I couldn't tell who was who, where was where, and why they were doing certain things. The characters weren't fleshed out enough that I could tell them by their mannerisms or dialogue.

The movie was pretty boring as a result. However, the action scenes were very well done. Michael Bay is known for his bombastic action sequences, and usually I find them muddled and confusing, but surprisingly he dialed it down a notch or two and I actually quite enjoyed them. This is because visually, the movie is quite remarkable. The colors are vibrant for a film like this, modern military films are usually doused in muted yellows and tans. The orange fire, explosions, and gun flashes really pop on the deep blue backgrounds, and it's really a treat to watch. There are also some pretty intense scenes, particularly the firefights. My heart was pounding on a number of occasions.

But ultimately, this wasn't enough to keep me interested. I was bored to tears approaching the 2 hour mark, and when the large Trump supporter next to me, who had been laughing and groaning and leaning and breathing through his mouth the whole time started vaping, I walked out and told the kids at the box office, who alerted the manager. I went back to try to finish the movie, but after a few more minutes I got up and told the manager which guy it was, and said that I was going to head out. He offered me a free movie pass to come back, and I thanked him for his help and left.
I doubt the movie got any better in the last 20 minutes though.

I would also like to point out that, surprisingly, the film wasn't at all anti-Muslim, nor did it try to push a political agenda. During the film, the local militia that aren't attacking the base come to the aid of the American soldiers, and a few end up teaming up with Jim Halpert and his team. One says, "I'm fighting for my country." Which was one of the best lines in the film and was very commendable.

I really was hoping to like the film, but Michael Bay strikes out once again. 


Verdict: 2/5