13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (6/7/2016)

Rated R for strong combat violence throughout, bloody images, and language.

Starring John Krasinski, Pablo Schreiber, Dominic Fumusa, James Badge Dale, Max Martini, David Denman and Dominic Fumusa

Directed by Michael Bay (Transformers, Pearl Harbor, Armageddon, The Rock and Bad Boys)

When everything went wrong, six men had the courage to do what was right.

An American Ambassador is killed during an attack at a U.S. compound in Libya as a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.

OK let’s be honest, Michael Bay, the over-the-top director of the Transformers movies is also the director most of us love to hate. I like to think of him as the master of mindless moviemaking. His films don’t really inspire us or make us contemplate things bigger than ourselves and they certainly don’t change us. But if you check your brain and pop some popcorn, you can really enjoy a two-hour ride.

So when I heard he was directing 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi I was a bit concerned. Could Bay properly handle this very real-world, true story about the deadly 2012 attacks on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, which killed, among others, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

Bay and his screenwriter, Chuck Hogan, adapted the bestseller “13 Hours,” which was written by Mitchell Zuckoff and the members of the Annex Security Team. Bay chooses to avoid any overt political inferences. So Hillary Clinton’s name is never uttered, and blame is never assigned to anyone specifically. But let’s be honest, do we really want to see a political movie by Michael Bay?

I have to say Michael Bay directed a serious movie and did it extremely well. The characters are developed, the details are concise, the tension is real and the action is …well, it’s still a Michael Bay film so the action is very intense.

John Krasinski aka Jim from The Office is surprising good in the ultra serious role. I kept waiting for him to break the fourth wall but it never happened. The rest of the cast including Pablo Schreiber, Dominic Fumusa, James Badge Dale, Max Martini and David Denman all play their respective roles with honor and dignity.

These men did an unbelievably heroic thing. I have watched more than a dozen interviews with Kris (“Tanto”) Paronto, Mark (“Oz”) Geist, and John (“Tig”) Tiegen and am not embarrassed to say that I cried while watching this film. And walking out of the theaters with several veterans, I couldn’t help but feel like we were walking out of a funeral. Michael Bay caused me to embrace these men and their story and evoked a genuine reaction.

I loved 13 Hours and can’t wait to add it to my collection. It is “Worth Buying.”

SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
There is no sex or nudity at all in the film. However, the combat scenes are very intense and often graphic. There are also close to 50 F-words.

CONVERSATION STARTER:

1. What do you think motivated Rone and the others to go to the U.S. compound?

Read James 4:17

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.


2. Name something that you didn’t have to do, but did because it was right. What happened?


3. What are some things that you know you should do but haven’t?


4. Are you willing to do them this week?