13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI

"None of you have to go...but we're the only help they have"

(And yes, none of you have to go and see this film!)



          I have to be honest with you...this film is boring. It looked cool in the trailer, and it has potential with a plot based on a true story. But the plot fell flat, and suddenly the film is just firefight after firefight. And believe me, without the plot holding it together, even the action sequences doesn't feel interesting anymore...all there is just bunch of guys shooting at another bunch of guys. The only thing interesting are the actors, which did their best to make their character interesting despite the hollow plot.

          I have no idea what the critics were thinking. Seriously, at least Transformers: Age of Extinction has a plot - a senseless one, but a plot, nevertheless. And that plot drives the action to different places. In 13 Hours, its a lot of introduction in the first act, followed by a quick turnaround of events where everything goes to hell, followed by what is essentially...wave after wave of enemy attacks. If people are saying this feels like a video game...it truly does. A boring video game at that. There is no plot that really drives the action to different places or different scenarios.

            And for that last hour, even the action sequences are boring. There is some quality to how the scenes are shot, I'd give them that. But after a few minutes, seeing the same people shooting in the same place is - and there's no better way to say it - boring. Imagine seeing the whole of the last act being like that. The soldiers that we're supposed to root for is just pinned down in one place, fending of wave after wave of attack. Not only does it get boring, but in the end, it loses its suspense and intensity.

             If there's any positives in this film, is that the actors did their job well and made their characters interesting enough, despite the substanceless plot. And Michael Bay did good enough from a purely directing perspective alone. Other than that, I'm totally disappointed by the film. Even the scenes in between the action are dull...its the usual 'military guy has a family' type of dialogue...its cliche and worst of all, its incoherent to the general tone of the film. In the end, I'm very much disappointed with the film. This film has a lot of potential but falls flat wherever it mattered.

VERDICT: 3.0