I’m a sucker for ‘based on a true story’ action films. I’ve recently watched ‘Close’ (a 2019 British-made, internationally-financed, Netflix-released film which is worth a gander – if you’ve got a spare hour and a half and don’t mind watching something that’s firmly in the ‘Oh God This Is A Rubbish Film’ category).
But the best film in the ‘BoaTS’ action film I’ve watched since I first saw Black Hawk Down (and that was a long time ago) is 13 Hours.
Despite being a film by Michael (Lens Flare) Bay, and despite the historical liberties the film takes with Mitchell Zuckoff’s incredibly well-researched 2014 book, there’s a lot to like in 13 Hours. The action sequences are well written and well-read, and the weapons details are spot-on (except for the post-production audio edits).
But what makes 13 Hours truly accurate is the absence of communication between the spooks on the ground doing Job A, and the diplomatic mission on the ground doing Job B. The firewall between the two is accurate and – unfortunately – true to life.
Watched that a long time back, I think.
It was alright, as I remember.
Problem with “Based on a true story” films, is those first two words. They give the scriptwriter and director a huge amount of elasticity with regard to the last two words.