13 Hours the movie:
Back in the beginning of March MrsMac, our BOL neighbors and myself went to see the movie 13 Hours.
We actually tried to see it twice before but both times when we arrived at the movie theaters the movie was sold out. I finally found it playing as an afternoon matinee at $4.75 per ticket. My kind of price! By the time the movie started, the theater in which it was playing was 3/4 full. With the exception of a few young ones dragged to the movie by grandparents the average age of the movie goers was 50-55 years old.
In short, the movie was everything I had read and more. At no time during the movie was at the time Secretary Clinton's name came up. Briefly, there were about 3-4 minutes of film of the US military discussing what to do with the final decision - Nothing. There was a military drone filming the two battles (The Diplomatic Compound & CIA Annex) in real time starting about one hour after the first shots were fired at the Diplomatic Compound about 1 1/2 miles from the CIA Annex.
The movie was fast paced and you had to pay attention through-out. Most movies of this genera, there was a bit of biography weaved through the beginning of the movie to set the stage and bring you up to speed on the cast. With that written, buckle your seat belts as the movie quickly escalates in emotion and action.
Overall I would rate the movie a 4.5 out of a 5, with 5 being AWESOME. I did not give the movie a 5 because there were two Hollywood moments that did not jive with the book. I would definitely put this move on par with ZULU, Patton, 300 and maybe The Wild Bunch.
This is one movie that I will buy when it comes out on DVD.
13 Hours the book:
I am a true believer that the book is ALWAYS better then the movie but in this case I was wrong. After reading the book Michael Bay did the book justice with just two, what I call, "Hollywood moments." One of those moments was in the beginning of the movie when Jack & Rone (Two main characters) where traveling to the CIA Annex from the airport. The book described the road block as a standard stop to check for the occupants papers. The movie had the stop be a bit more dramatic.
Like the movie, the book did not go into any politics other than the friction that was between the Security Contractors and the Ivy League CIA agents at the Annex. One group was thought as cave men and the other thought as desk jockey's.
The book was a good read and worth your time if you like to study battles tactics or a student of war history. I got th book from my local library.
In closing, this book was written and movie produced to not point political fingers but to tell the stores of some pretty dang brave men. They left it up to us, to fill in the political blanks and to post blame as we see it.
