30 Day Movie Challenge: Day 8- 13 Hours (2016)

We are now into the second week of our 30 day movie challenge and hopefully none of you are panicking because it just gets easier from here. The task for today's film was that we were supposed to watch a film with a number in the title and the film I chose for today is 2016's 13 Hours which was directed by Michael Bay (Transformers) and is based off of the book 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi by Mitchell Zuckoff. The film stars John Krasinski (A Quiet Place) as Navy Seal John Silva who was tasked to head to a secret embassy in a war torn Benghazi. Libya as part of a security team. The only problem is that something goes terribly wrong and everyone in the embassy comes under fire by a group of militants and they have to try and protect everyone inside the compound before it's too late. The film also stars James Badge Dale (The Departed) as Rone, Pablo Schreiber (Bubble Boy) as Tanto, David Denman (Brightburn) as Boon, Dominic Fumusa (Asterix and Obelix Meet Cleopatra) as Tig, Max Martini (Captain Phillips) as Oz, David Costabile (The Dirt) as Bob,  Matt Letscher (Her) as Ambassador Chris Stevens, Alexia Barlier (The Forest) as Sona, Demetrius Grosse (Rampage) as DS Dave Ubben, Payman Maadi (A Separation) as Amahl, and David Giuntoli (Grimm) as DS Scott Wickland.

This is a very intense film when the proverbial sh** hits the fan and it's done in Michael Bay style which means it has that big budget Hollywood look and feel to it. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with that, but rather that the explosions are bigger and the picture is glossier than most other war films. Don't worry, I am not taking any points away for that because I absolutely loved the film. I thought Krasinski, Schreiber, Dale, Denman, Fumusa, and Martini made an amazing team together and you absolutely believed that these were the best of the best the further into the film that you get. There are some scenes which get intense and graphic, but it's not too much that you won't be able to handle. It just gets real and it sad that the people who died had to as most of these guys were running blind not knowing who was really on their side and who wasn't. One thing I will say is that I have to give it to David Costabile who plays the CIA agent who just seems to not get any real sense of what is happening or what to expect like what a trained soldier would. He literally is the example of suits that have no idea what is going on like the ones in the trenches do, but they feel like ordering them around like there cavemen anyways. This is definitely one film to watch if you're looking for something to watch that deals with this subject matter. That is why I am going to give the film an A for a final grade.