I have never seen a single Transformers movie because Michael Bay movies irritate me that much. The fact that I saw 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi should tell readers how much the coverup of the September 11, 2012, terror attack in Benghazi, Libya, means to me. In short, Mr. Bay proved to the world that it is possible for him to direct a movie that is worthy of box office success and critical praise.
Ambassador Christopher Stevens, foreign service officer Sean Smith, and CIA contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods died four years ago in Benghazi and then the government tried to cover it up. President Obama and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tried to blame what happened on an obscure video. The man who made that video was arrested and sat in jail in a scenario straight out of NBC’s “The Blacklist” — only it was real.
If it wasn’t for Michael Bay, the world would only have denial after denial after denial by the people who set the stage for bad things to happen and then watched while good men died. Bay uses Navy SEAL Jack Silva, played by John Krasinski, to tell the tale. The verdict is in: The guy from “The Office” does not disappoint.
The fortunate thing for Bay is that like Lone Survivor or similar tales, 13 Hours does not need much character development. Bay’s stock in trade is action, so as long as the audience believes Krasinski and his crew are special operators, the heavy lifting has been accomplished.
The audience wants to see these men come face-to-face with death. The audience wants to feel what it’s like on the modern battlefield. The audience wants to hear all the sights and the sounds that Ambassador Stevens experienced in his last horrifying moments, and on every level Bay delivers.
Perhaps the most haunting part of 13 Hours was the a drone circled overhead while wave after wave of Islamic terrorists destroyed Stevens’ diplomatic compound and then attempted to do the same to a nearby CIA annex.
I explained it to my wife like this: Imagine you’re in the middle of the ocean on a giant ship and you fall overboard with only a small life preserver. You look up at the ship and yell for help at a man who stands over you with his arms crossed — but he says nothing.
Then sharks begin to circle and you yell some more — but he remains silent.
Then the sharks start bumping your legs under the water and you kick and thrash and scream — but the man refuses to move.
You are cut and bruised and broken and you barely survive the whole ordeal when, miraculously, another boat comes by and aids in your rescue.
When you go home and tell reporters what happen the man finally speaks, but he provides an entirely different account of your fight with the sharks. Millions of people believe the man did everything in his power to help you, and when he tells them to forget about your testimony they dutifully obey.
Michael Bay’s decision to bring 13 Hours to the big screen was a godsend for anyone who cares about the truth. Orwellian agents of the government will continue to try and revise history, but 13 Hours now exists and will make their job exponentially harder.
If you liked Lone Survivor and even movies like Blackhawk Down, then you should really see 13 Hours during its theatrical release.
Take a bow, Michael Bay. You earned it.
Editor’s Note: Yours truly will now begin reviewing movies for Conservative Book Club. I gave them a different review for 13 Hours that you can check out here.
Douglas Ernst Blog 