13 Hours: the Movie

Dianny's review of the movie "13 Hours."

I just got home from seeing the movie “13 Hours" and I wanted to write down some thoughts about it while it is still fresh in my mind.

First of all, if you read the book, don't worry about the problem most movies made from books have in that they are nothing like the book. The movie is EXACTLY like the book. Yes, some scenes are shortened and condensed, but the feel and the narrative from the book are brilliantly translated to the screen by screenwriter Chuck Hogan.

The other nice thing about having read the book before seeing the movie is I felt as if I already knew the guys -- Jack, Tanto, Tig, Oz, Rone, and DB.

The film sets things up beautifully -- giving you a sense of the danger, the uncertainty, the hostility bubbling just beneath the surface. We the audience get introduced to Benghazi and the security team through the arrival of the newest team member, Jack Silva (played by John Krasinski). Within moments of Jack's arrival, the stage is set. You understand the precarious position these team members are in working for a secret facility and needing to keep a low profile in an incredibly hostile city where being able to distinguish between friendlies and unfriendlies is virtually impossible.

When the movie gets to the day of September 11, 2012, I was sitting forward in my stadium seat with a huge knot in my stomach waiting … waiting -- knowing what was coming at any moment.

I don’t want to give too much away and I won't divulge any spoilers.

All I really want to say about it is: Go! Go see this movie. It is very well written and brilliantly directed with some excellent performances especially by James Badge Dale as Tyrone Woods and Pablo Schreiber as Kris "Tanto" Paronto (and I'm not just saying that because I knew Pablo when he was a scrawny gawky sophomore at Carnegie Mellon School of Drama when I was a playwriting graduate student there).

David Denman's taciturn portrayal of DB "Boon" Benton was also terrific. I especially liked the scene where the big burly bearded "Boon" is sitting reading "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell. It was so unexpected, I laughed out loud. Dominic Fumusa's understated and tempered portrayal of John "Tig" Tiegen is dead-on. And the always brilliant Max Martini is absolutely commanding as Mark "Oz" Geist.

The firefight scenes are spectacular. And, I gotta tell you, there is something deeply satisfying about seeing a terrorist get his head blown off his shoulders. Does that make me a horrible person? I don't care. Knowing what these men were up against that night -- outmanned four to one -- every single time they took a guy out, I wanted to cheer.

Ordinarily, shoot-em-up movies tend to lack fleshed-out and very real characters. But this is most certainly not the case with "13 Hours." Maybe it's because I read the book and already felt like I knew these guys. But I doubt it. The acting is great and the writing was able to give us those moments of human interaction even in the midst of the most dramatic battle scenes. Tanto's humor and charm even under fire was so refreshing and reassuring. All of these guys carried this film wonderfully.

I saw an article online the other day commenting that despite all the political fallout over the Benghazi attack, Hillary Clinton's name is never mentioned.

Something tells me that these guys never found themselves in a situation where they'd be discussing the then Secretary of State. So why would she be? But Hillary doesn't need to be mentioned. Her presence looms over the movie like a shadow.

This isn't a political film, and thank God for that. In truth, it doesn't need to be. The reality of the lack of security and the repeated calls for help that went unanswered are what they are.

13 Hours works because it isn't a political film. It is a movie about bravery in the face of grim odds. It is a movie about the type of men who run toward the firefight, toward the bullets, even when they are outnumbered.

Even when they are ordered to stand down.

It is a film about service, honor, patriotism, and unfettered bravery. Even as I write this I am crying again. To know that there are men like these who serve this nation fills me with so much gratitude and awe. And to see their experience in those 13 hours in Benghazi come alive on the screen left me utterly speechless and overwhelmed.

Don't wait for it to come out on DVD. Go see it in the theater. Believe me. I'm going to see it again. Few movies are worth the outrageous ticket price anymore.

But 13 Hours is. It's worth far more. It's priceless.