13 Hours (2016)

Directed by Michael Bay. Starring John Krasinski, James Badge Dale, David Costabile, Max Martini, Pablo Schreiber, Dominic Fumusa, Alexia Barlier, David Denham, Toby Stephens, Matt Letscher, Freddie Stroma, Demetrius Grosse, David Giuntoli, Peyman Moaadi. [R]

Director Michael Bay does for the 2012 Benghazi attacks what he previously did for Pearl Harbor; there’s even an over-the-shoulder POV shot from a mortar shell. Controversial by nature, same as the accuracy of actual events, but murky political content rarely raises its head, and despite being focused on American military action, the jingoism is practically restrained by the filmmaker’s standards. Does prove, however, that even when Bay isn’t targeting thirteen-year-old boys, he still can’t help but make movies at that level: a chaotic assault of noisy, monotonous bluster. That same ugly and high-contrast color palette of buffed grunge teals and browns and golds, spit shine, and lens flares makes it visually indistinguishable from, say, whichever Transformers movie had the most scenes set at nighttime. Equally indistinguishable (and interchangeable) are the brave “secret soldiers,” given only the faintest of character development before being put through the wringer; it doesn’t help that most of them sport the sort of facial hair that a fugitive from the law might grow so that he’s harder to spot. There’s a story to be told here, but scriptwriter Chuck Hogan doesn’t bother to tell it. At least Jim and Roy from “The Office” are finally getting along, though. Full title per most promotional materials: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.

30/100