13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi (6/10)

Six out of 10? Still better than all but the original Transformers movies. Michael Bay should just do these kinds of movies.

Bay's style of directing is still prevalent when it comes to movies with guns. The only thing missing from 13 Hours was that sweeping shot with the heroes in the middle, a la Bad Boys.

He still has those slow-motion, sometimes in the form of montages, to inform the audience that a certain amount of time has passed. He still used a good half of the 144 minutes to waste time by doing a slow buildup so that the movie may come across as more epic than it actually was.

He still tried to employ humour throughout the movie and only less than half of those worked, though I really did appreciate those jokes that landed. He still used the women in slow-motion shots and to bring in the "softness" and "lightness" to otherwise a very harsh and tough environment and tone.

But what worked for the movie and for Bay was that this story was not only based on a real story but also it's delivered to the audience in a very realistic fashion; unlike Transformers. (But of course this was not the only reason that Transformers is now such a train wreck.) At least the characters felt real, and they are put in real situations.

Everything from the story's standpoint was logical with very little wiggle room as to what could have happened instead of what we're looking at onscreen.

And Bay still does action very well, though he really needs to update himself a bit more as when you compare this movie to something like London Has Fallen or Creed; where the directors there had a long sequence of uncut action that elevated those movies a great deal. I'm not saying this is the direction that Bay should go into but just at least something new and fresh, or he's going to be outdated soon.

And the cast led by John Krasinski were all capable in their roles. Krasinski got a new body for this movie and he looked the part. Plus a very impressionable performance right at the end to bring in the humanity of what this whole ordeal has come down to.