13 Hours: The secret Soldiers of Benghazi

On September 11, 2012, exactly 11 years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, the U.S. Consulate General in Benghazi, Libya, is unexpectedly attacked with heavy artillery. In several waves, the consulate is rocked by what appear to be carefully planned attacks. No clear signal comes from Washington for a rescue mission. Therefore, members of a private security force stationed at a nearby CIA base decide that they will protect the embassy from the attackers until help arrives. Though they've been strictly forbidden from intervening lest the existence of the CIA base be revealed, the men embark on a battle that could cost them far more than just their jobs over the next 13 bloody hours.

With 13 Hours: The secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Michael Bay allows himself a little time off from the Transformers orgies that have consumed much of his time in recent years. Now he has directed a solid action thriller with a comparatively low budget - about a quarter of the last Transformers film - which is really exciting for long stretches. Of course, Bay doesn't forgo his usual patriotism pathos and his very particular visual aesthetic for which he is so fond of being scolded, and not just by critics. But to his credit, he serves all that up in tolerable doses, focusing primarily on the tense atmosphere of the story, which he has rendered pleasantly apolitical.

It is precisely from the Republican camp that the events in Benghazi are used to attack presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and blame her for the death of the US ambassador. It would have been easy for Bay to either jump on that bandwagon or turn it into a commercial for the Democrats. But even with that, he surprisingly holds back. Of course, the film isn't completely apolitical. And of course it's not completely free of one-sided clichés. But the fact that brute director Michael Bay, whose Pearl Harbor was bursting with postcard patriotism, has really focused on the men of the CIA unit and thus staged an almost claustrophobic siege thriller, can be considered a real surprise.

In some places, however, it is a little too thick and reveals some clear weaknesses, especially in the dialogue. Nevertheless: in terms of suspense, the film can convince over almost the entire running time. If you don't expect a factually correct documentary about the tragic events, but just want to see a solid action thriller with good actors, you're absolutely right here. Therefore, there are then only small point deductions at the end and a clear: Worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp