Capitol Hill Buzz: House Republicans watch Benghazi movie

“I don’t know if it’s possible to VIEW a film about Benghazi and not launch into a political conversation”.

Despite Bay’s claims that 13 Hours has “no political agenda” beyond a faithful retelling of the events in Benghazi, studio sources told the Hollywood Reporter that the thriller is being marketed specifically to conservative audiences, including advertising and press in right-leaning media outlets and the choice of demographically friendly “red state” audiences for pre-release screenings. It’s a tense couple of hours, as the soldiers remain oblivious to who will strike and how they will do it. These scenes are probably the best filmed too. It can be extremely violent at times, but unlike what we expect from Michael Bay, he seems to use some restraint. Once more. Even his mother told him not to direct. “Why the headache”, she said.

James Badge Dale plays Tyrone S. Woods, a former SEAL who did not survive the Battle of Benghazi.

The six men are familiar faces mostly from TV land and that provides an intimacy with their characters which a mega star would destroy. It’s reminiscent of a Michael Bay + “Lone Survivor” or “American Sniper” type film, and is one I’d definitely see again. “You are not direct-action elements!” the bureaucratic base boss barks at the team, with the sound of AK-47s and rocket launchers exploding just a mile away. Each bullet and piece of flying shrapnel rattles and ricochets with such a heightened sense of realism that you can practically see the dust shake off the screen. Much of the initial allure is the exotic landscape of Libya. He starts the movie slow, building tension in Benghazi but then throws us into a night filled with gunfire and explosions. There is a slight problem in that there are three big attacks and a minor skirmish in the beginning, but Bay sets these up in a manipulative manner so that each one becomes a kind of warning of the bigger and badder attack.

Never tiresome, “13 Hours” gives you a little of that, and lot of what most people actually go to war movies for, which is the opposite of reality. It’s a story when you have a nightmare, you want heroes like this to rescue you from your nightmares.

During Thursday evening’s presidential debate, leading GOP candidate Ted Cruz said that the movie portrayed “the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them”.

Rone takes Jack back to the compound to meet the rest of the team: Tanto (Pablo Schreiber), Boon (David Denman), Tig (Dominic Fumusa) and Oz (Max Martini).

Weeks have gone by and with the arrival of the US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens (Matt Letscher), the locals are chanting to get his attention outside the gates of the Embassy. Foreign Services Management Office Sean Smith is played by Christopher Dingli (Doctors).

“The movie focuses on the actions of a small group of operators and soldiers, consisting of 2 active-duty JSOC operators and five Central Intelligence Agency personnel along with a small contingent of Libyan forces”. For their selection and recognition Michael Bay should be lauded. He draws a line in the sand with the good guys on one side and the bad guys on the other.

Bay: Listen it was 13 hours, 13 hours.

Benghazi casualties could have been worse.

House Republicans are investigating the Benghazi attacks. Today it is an Isis stronghold.

A point of interest: Most people will walk out of the theater in a trance because of what they just watched. Instead understanding is attempted out of bloody chaos. If nothing else, 13 Hours makes a serious case for Bay as a legitimate auteur of shambolic carnage.