Many movies that didn’t attract much attention on their original release can find new success on streaming, and the 2016 Michael Bay action war movie 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi starring John Krasinski is now top of the Tubi chart almost a decade after its release.
Krasinski has expanded his resume a lot since he was known for TV sitcom roles such as playing Jim Halpert in The Office, and has since become a credible action lead in shows like Jack Ryan, as well as proving his directing abilities with movies like A Quiet Place. However, his break from TV comedy did not start with his best known hits, but with more-overlooked movies like 13 Hours.
Bay adapts Mitchell Zuckoff’s nonfiction account of the September 11, 2012, attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, following six former military contractors who defended the CIA Annex after militants overran the nearby diplomatic compound. Krasinski plays Jack Silva, a newcomer to the Global Response Staff, opposite James Badge Dale, Max Martini, Pablo Schreiber, David Denman, Dominic Fumusa, and Toby Stephens. The full synopsis reads:
“On Sept. 11, 2012, Islamic militants attack the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and Sean Smith, an officer for the Foreign Service. Stationed less than one mile away are members (James Badge Dale, John Krasinski, Max Martini) of the Annex Security Team, former soldiers assigned to protect operatives and diplomats in the city. As the assault rages on, the six men engage the combatants in a fierce firefight to save the lives of the remaining Americans.”
The film delivers the usual mix of R-rated combat violence with some emotive performances from Krasinski and his costars, which earned the movie some reasonable reviews…but also some of the usual criticisms that follow Michael Bay movies around like a bad smell.
Is ’13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi’ Worth Watching?
When it was released in January 2016, 13 Hours landed a $69.4 million worldwide box office, low for a Michael Bay movie, but not a complete flop. However, the film was underseen enough to make it a curiosity now it has appeared among Tubi’s new streaming options. According to audiences, it is well worth your time.
On the movie’s original release, critics were heavily divided on the film, as the 51% Rotten Tomatoes score suggests. The biggest gripe? If you have watched a Michael Bay movie, then you know that the focus on action and big set-pieces often take precedence over real emotional stakes, and the plot usually ends up suffering for it if you aren’t just after a few big bangs and spectacle. As one “rotten” review put it:
“13 Hours is proof that if Michael Bay wants to take something seriously, he does have the skill to do so.”
However, throw a deeply emotional movie into cinemas alongside something with plenty of explosions, and more often than not there will only be one winner. For that reason, the audience score for the movie sits at 83%, with reviews giving a much more accommodating take. In fact, one reviewer goes so far as to call it “arguably Michael Bay’s best movie.” Some would say there is not a lot of competition in that category, others would die on a hill to say that Bay has made some of the greatest blockbuster action movies in cinema history.
One viewer says, “I couldn’t believe it was Michael Bay’s movie, since there’s no solar flare shining over a full make-up female cast. And despite what critics say, this was great, great, great movie.” Another calls it an “incredible movie that gave me mad anxiety,” while a third hails it as “a gripping and powerful film that deserves to be seen.”
- Release Date
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January 14, 2016
- Runtime
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144 minutes
- Writers
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Chuck Hogan
- Producers
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Erwin Stoff, Matthew Cohan, Scott Gardenhour