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A collective *sigh* always\u00a0resonates amongst film critics when a new Michael Bay film comes out. It\u2019s \u2018let\u2019s bash Bay time\u2019 again, rather than thinking the filmmaker does draw sizeable audiences and make billions of dollars in the process. So,\u00a0will his \u2018most serious\u2019 film yet, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi<\/em>, appeal to his fan base?<\/p>\n Based on true events in Mitchell Zuckoff’s book (written along with Annex Security Team survivors), and soon after the toppling of Colonel Gaddafi during the Arab Spring, a secret US Consulate housing CIA operatives and a crack protection team of ex-military men, the Global Response Staff (GRS), comes under attack from militants when its cover is blown, soon after a visiting US Ambassador is killed in a nearby complex.<\/p>\n With help a long way off, GRS\u2019s Jack Silva (a buff John Krasinski from The Office<\/em>), Tyrone \u2018Rone\u2019 Woods (James Badge Dale), Kris \u2018Tanto\u2019 Paronto (Pablo Schreiber), Dave \u2018Boon\u2019 Benton (David Denman), John \u2018Tig\u2019 Tiegen (Dominic Fumusa) and Mark \u2018Oz\u2019 Geist (Max Martini) must hold back the attack from their besieged position.<\/p>\n Bay simply immerses his viewer in big-action bashing that satisfies the inner gamer demon. 13 Hours<\/em> just shamelessly uses a real-life story to allow us to vent our darkest frustrations at the incompetent, meddling \u2018State\u2019 (not just the US here btw) and the latest bogeyman (read between the current news lines), when we all know things are never that black and white and easy to unpick in real-life. It\u2019s called \u2018escapism\u2019, folks – no apologies made. The film delivers in Bay-esque grandeur for fans, whether it\u2019s being politically correct or not. The first half even tries to get serious too \u2013 naff script lines aside at times.<\/p>\n Not only does 13 Hours<\/em> reduce its warring factions to a simplistic \u2018us\u2019 (the Americans and its allies) and \u2018them\u2019 (basically, anyone of Arabic appearance \u2013 complete with black Islamic flags), and is characteristically patriotic from a US stance, but it\u2019s also typically sexist when it comes to women. No surprises there. We either cry over our slaughtered men folk (\u2018them\u2019 in the bloodstained fields) or trip over ourselves bringing drinks to refresh the men in the midst of battle and flying bullets.<\/p>\n Even though the only female protagonist \u2013 so let\u2019s name her and give her credit as Alexia Barlier playing CIA\u2019s Sona Jillani, who sadly possesses the said two left feet \u2013 risks her neck in dangerous negotiations outside the secret US Consulate\u2019s four walls, she is still reduced to a pretty pawn in the all-male war game. Is this enough to enrage female viewers? Not really. It\u2019s Bay after all. To actually look into the different facets at play here and how they tick would make the film far longer than 13 hours \u2013 and it\u2019s long enough at 144 minutes. Let\u2019s face it; we\u2019ve come for the epic action.<\/p>\n Here, Bay does not disappoint. He uses a bronzed beefcake cast – who are as wide as Transformers in many respects, even Krasinski \u2013 to pump the hell out of the bad guys who just keep coming and confusing the poor GRS. In this respect (and knowing military personnel and those in newsgathering), Bay does portray the localised pandemonium of war. As they say, \u2018no one wears a uniform\u2019, so who\u2019s friend or foe? Ironically too, in recent real-life conflicts, the Americans have been known to be a touch trigger-happy, so it doesn\u2019t take much to buy into what\u2019s playing out on screen. Even his beefcakes lose pints of blood and limbs like faltering Transformers, but at least there\u2019s not a mass of unidentifiable metal in turmoil, just bearded heroes who once they start getting dirty become indistinguishable almost. In this case, Bay could be accused of \u2018giving up\u2019 on his quest to make something \u2018more serious\u2019 and just skipping to the gory, \u2018fun\u2019 part, like some impatient kid he\u2019s peddling to.<\/p>\n Hats off to Krasinski who is genuinely credible as a lead action hero instead of a jokey office nerd. It\u2019s a complete role departure that shows gumption. Ironically, his character is the moral gauge \u2013 if there is such a thing here. It\u2019s just the schmaltzy family flashbacks that ruin things, and induce sniggers. Indeed, more back-story could have been written in to prevent this, if there were more lull periods between men folk. However, that would have removed us from the pressure-cooker environment that needs brewing to unleash the resulting hell. There is an overuse of redundant \u2018scenic\u2019 shots at the expense of more exhilarating car chases. Channelling more Bourne<\/em> would have helped matters – though the locals are still made to look like morons here. Cue the smiling \u2018TV guy\u2019 next door.<\/p>\n To want to know more about each bearded beefcake would have meant an entirely different film \u2013 it\u2019s no American Sniper. <\/em>Bay was never going to risk his reputation on that, regardless of the sensitivity of the subject matter to hand. He ties that up in the standard photo montage of the real-life \u2018heroes\u2019 as the end credits roll.<\/p>\n 13 Hours<\/em> definitely quenches the bloodlust and action fever in us. It\u2019s not for the fainthearted or those seeking truthful, real-life representations of complex world events either \u2013 even though it uses the typical newsreel footage. It\u2019s a war game for the best impact or IMAX screen out there, reeking of machismo and entrails, shockingly stereotypical and blatantly racist. To expect otherwise in an \u2018us and them\u2019 Bay battle would be foolish.<\/p>\n 3\/5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n By @FilmGazer<\/p>\n