[Bay] is hell on manly banter amid the explosions ("Just another Tuesday night in Benghazi"), and also moments carefully calculated to make you feel the horrors - and the heroics - of war. Emphasis on "calculated."
– Matthew Lickona,
San Diego Reader,
15 Jan 2016
fresh:
[Bay] does well here what he always does well: He keeps the action at full throttle. This is also what he does so annoyingly: He always keeps things at full throttle.
– Peter Rainer,
Christian Science Monitor,
15 Jan 2016
rotten:
Several critics have given 13 Hours a pass, citing Bay's skill at action engineering. It's his failure at everything else that makes this movie as hard to endure as it is impossible to believe. #helpme
– Peter Travers,
Rolling Stone,
16 Jan 2016
fresh:
The movie is imperfect and overlong but it's never boring. And, although aspects of its factual accuracy can be called into question, it does a decent job of chronicling what happened that night.
– James Berardinelli,
ReelViews,
16 Jan 2016
fresh:
The final word on this incident will require a more thoughtful filmmaker. But hopefully, that artist will possess at least half of Bay's punishing, peerless craft.