Bay's 'Benghazi' a patriotic mix of horror, video game devices
Michael Bay's highly commercial "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" may resemble a standard-issue war movie, but it beats with the heart of an apocalyptic, Armageddon horror film.
Look at the off-kilter, tilted frames, spooky slow-motion shots and stark lighting. Observe the surrealistic, fog-enveloped CIA Benghazi Annex in Libya under siege by faceless, shadowy attackers who could be right out of "The Armed, Walking Dead."
The plot to Bay's "13 Hours" also brings to mind horror director John Carpenter's 1976 siege thriller, "Assault on Precinct 13," albeit with more firepower and much bigger turf to protect from insurgents.
Anyone who follows the news knows that on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, armed militants assaulted the U.S. diplomatic compound and CIA Annex in Libya, killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith and two CIA contractors.
"13 Hours," written by Chuck Hogan from Mitchell Zuckoff's 2013 book (also titled "13 Hours"), concentrates on events leading to the attack, and the six CIA military contractors who put their lives on the line to defend the Annex and embassy.
We don't get to know much about four of them, outside of their military affiliations. We glimpse a little more about team leader Tyrone "Rone" Woods (James Badge Dale), a dedicated soldier who keeps a photo of his son in his pocket.
Surprisingly, most of the emotional heavy lifting goes to "The Office" star John Krasinski, buffed and roughed to play former Navy SEAL Jack Silva. ("13 Hours" should do for him what "Die Hard" did for former comic TV actor Bruce Willis. He's that good.)
Silva Skypes with his daughters and wife, and seems genuinely wracked with guilt for doing a job that takes him away from them.
Enough with emo stuff. This is not a Nicholas Sparks film.
Bay - never a fan of understatement - instantly fuses facts with unrelenting dramatic overkill. Long before anything nefarious occurs, Bay taps Lorne Balfe's ominous horror movie score to saturate scenes with premature suspense before breaking into eardrum-busting percussion when the action takes off.
At first, it's hard to keep straight exactly who's who and what's what in "13 Hours." Combat sequences come fast and furious with shots so tightly edited that they become disorienting.
Bay positions the camera (and us) down the sights of firing guns, creating the sensation we're pulling the triggers in an elaborate first-person shooter video game.
(The chintzy video game effect is enhanced by Dion Beebe's flat, even bleached cinematography, rendering a TV sheen rather than a more deeply textured film patina.)
"13 Hours" says that the CIA contractors - to whom Bay dedicates his patriot film at the end - could have saved Stevens had they been dispatched when the embassy first requested assistance.
But their bureaucratic chief (an impeccably cast David Costabile) constantly holds them back. "You're not direct contact elements!" he shouts.
Yes, they are. Bay's horror/war movie attests to it.
“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi”
★ ★ ½
Starring: John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Pablo Schreiber, Max Martini, David Costabile
Directed by: Michael Bay
Other: A Paramount Pictures release. Rated R for violence, language. 144 minutes