Thursday, February 11, 2016

The 'Not-So-Critical' Critic: 13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI


The 'Not-So-Critical' Critic: 


The Quick of It -
Watching military flicks from the standpoint of someone who spent time in the service makes it hard to offer an opinion without having some bias, and I don’t mean in the good way.  Just like the CSI shows, if you talk to someone who has done that line of work, they will tell you with a cringe that it is often very fake.  13 HOURS was a good film but, even though based on true events, was a little too over-dramatized for my taste.  The action was intense, the bureaucracy is very real, and the sense of living in a foreign country was palpable.  The team of actors they assembled was a work of genius in casting, to include the required Max Martini (‘The Unit’, PACIFIC RIM, and many others) as a legitimate sense of quality trained soldiers.  My problem with the film is that, by the end, it comes off as a subtle propaganda piece with the not-so-classy dramatization of story elements.  Don’t get me wrong, this is a great action movie, but don’t fall for the hype and believe that someone would appreciate the dangers they faced put in such a light.

Grade: B

No comments:

Post a Comment