13 Hours

As the summer blockbusters loom ever close, particularly in the shape of Michael Bay's next Transformers sequel, I decided to see if Bay could handle a serious film with 13 Hours. Based around events in Libya during 2012, this almost seemed too sensitive to be placed in hands of the man who gave us Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys II and Revenge of the Fallen but somehow he had the green-light to adapt the 2014 book and bring it to the big screen.

I usually have some sort of expectations before watching a film but this time I was lost. Would Bay add overly sexualised shots of Megan Fox, racially insensitive humour and fly the American flag with patriotic shots of the military? No, no and surprisingly not really. This time it's clear Bay wanted to go for a Black Hawk Down style and, to an extent, he succeeds.

The story follows a security team caught amongst the chaos when an American diplomatic compound comes under attack and it falls to them to keep everyone safe. But things are not that simple with the team being based on one side of Benghazi and the compound on the other. And to his credit, Bay successfully builds and maintains the tension to stress the peril the team are in. How historically accurate this is, I am sceptical given Bay's history and how he likes to paint in broad strokes.

However, as an action war film film it is exciting to watch but there comes a point where it hits one too many cliches and you can see the end before it gets there. The cast that includes John Krasinski, Toby Stephens and David Costabile are all good, but it is James Badge Dale's energetic performance that leaves an impression. With that said, Michael Bay is still an action director first and foremost and he know's how to shoot big events onscreen. Others can sometimes loose themselves in and amongst the moving pieces but he handles it well even if his trademark style is ever present that neglects characterisation for spectacle.

Overall this isn't the next Black Hawk Down but it is a decent effort by Bay to prove he can handle mature content. It is disappointing though that he focuses his attention on the action when the bigger picture regarding the political side would have been more interesting, but then maybe that's what you get from the man behind five Transformers films.