MovieChat Forums > 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) Discussion > Looking for opinions from open-minded vi...

Looking for opinions from open-minded viewers

posted 8 years ago by DarthKane
6 replies | jump to latest

By that I mean I am looking for opinions from viewers who are open-minded about watching a film directed by Michael Bay without immediately dismissing it. I see the Metacritic score is under a 50 but feel like that is because critics generally do not like Michael Bay films. The highest Meta score for any of his films is for Transformers, and I totally disagree with that. None of the Transformers films should be up for being his best movie. That honor should go to The Rock, Armageddon, The Island, or Pain & Gain as far as I am concerned... maybe even 13 Hours. I'm just wondering if this is a film that one would recommend for me to watch. I totally overlooked its theatrical release. Unfortunately, I'll hear about the next Transformers movie coming out but will not hear about a potentially high quality film like this coming out. I hope it's better than the critics say at least.

[–] ArchaeanX 8 years ago

I enjoyed it. But for me it's pretty hard for me to dislike a movie. I liked quite a bit of Michael Bay movies. Mostly the ones you named best, such as The Rock, The Island, and Pain & Gain as well as Armageddon.

It depends entirely on you, and your specific taste/what you consider a good movie.

If you like military and action movies then I would recommend it.

I almost never listen to critics and watch a movie for myself to decide if I like it or not. I go by IMDB rating sometimes, but even then low rated movies are some I enjoy, or high rated movies are ones that I just can't get into.

I would say watch it, see if you like it, and if not, no harm done. But I think you'll enjoy it.

[–] kmags84 8 years ago

'Pain and Gain' is ridiculously underrated. I love watching that, 'Wolf of Wall Street' and 'The Big Short' as companion pieces. Really, REALLY Good Film.

[–] NikolajCostas1005 8 years ago

It's mainly disappointing because it's a topic of considerable weight, and Bay has no clue how to tell such a story. He revels in cheesy, state of the art popcorn entertainment. He didn't demonstrate any growth with this movie as the characterization and script were horrible and cliche. On a visual level, it was pretty good. The atmosphere and most of the action was pretty evocative. That's my honest opinion. I don't particularly hate Michael Bay, I just think he should stick to cheesy fare like The Rock or Armageddon. He wasn't really trying to make meaningful art with those, just a solid good time. Anyway, this film didn't really do much to change that opinion.

I really wish this could have been handled with a director who more nuance like Paul Greengrass or Kathryn Bigelow. I liked elements of it, as I'd already mentioned.

Eh I don't know what 'phallocentric' means, but NO GIRLS!

[–] calcaneus67 8 years ago

I ask myself why is Black Hawk Down critically acclaimed while 13 Hours is more or less critically tolerated. To me 13 Hours and Black Hawk Down are not miles apart in terms of quality.

[–] WhenGreyjoysCry 8 years ago

As far as movies of this genre, it falls short of films like Black Hawk Down and Lone Survivor, but it isn't a bad film.

[–] spookyrat1 8 years ago

IMO, it's his best film since Armageddon. I'm glad he went out of his way to tell this story.🐭