13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: January 15, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
19
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
New York Daily NewsJoe DziemianowiczJan 13, 2016
Sure, Bay indulges some signature cinematic fetishes. But he shows restraint with the slowed-down, sexed-up shots. War is gritty here, not glamorous. Result: characters, stakes and emotions feel authentic — all the more so thanks to terrific actors including James Badge Dale and Pablo Schreiber as actual ex-military men and family men who battled terrorists. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 17, 2016
The movie is imperfect and overlong but it’s never boring. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 14, 2016
This is no “Zero Dark Thirty” or “The Hurt Locker.” Lacking in nuance and occasionally plagued by corny dialogue, “13 Hours” is nonetheless a well-photographed, visceral action film, and a sincere and fitting tribute to those secret soldiers. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithJan 14, 2016
Still, if 13 Hours lacks the gravitas of “American Sniper,” it’s powerful stuff. Bay’s goal is to put you right in these men’s boots, to feel the heat, the fear, the fatigue, the weight of the weapons and the web of camaraderie. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenJan 14, 2016
The movie’s main drawback is that its main characters are surprisingly ill-defined.... It’s a frustrating flaw in an otherwise engrossing picture. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJan 15, 2016
Bay and his screenwriter, Chuck Hogan, adapting the nonfiction bestseller “13 Hours,” by Mitchell Zuckoff and the members of the Annex Security Team, resolutely avoid any overt political inferences. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaJan 15, 2016
13 Hours, by its very subject matter, can't help but tap into the confluent veins of politics and patriotism. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrJan 14, 2016
A straight-up combat film. Not a very good combat film — it wallows in genre clichés and makes a hash of its action scenes — but one that does get you to empathize with its grunts, the “secret soldiers” of the title. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJan 14, 2016
Some of this is slick and enjoyable in what I'd characterize as the wrong way, the painlessly bloody, box-office-friendly way. Read full review
63
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJan 14, 2016
As an action film, it is intense and gripping. As a drama, it is bombastic and unsubtle. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 14, 2016
As a brutal and gory combat picture with historical underpinnings, these “Secret Soldiers” acquit themselves heroically. The action is visceral and intense. Read full review
63
USA TodayBrian TruittJan 14, 2016
After a string of iffy Transformers movies, Bay reminds that he can do a much better action movie with humans than alien robots: 13 Hours is his best work in the genre since his 1990s hits Bad Boys and The Rock. Read full review
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