13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
2016 film directed by Michael Bay
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is a 2016 American biographical action-thriller film, directed and produced by Michael Bay. Written by Chuck Hogan, it is based on the 2014 non-fiction book 13 Hours by American author Mitchell Zuckoff. The film follows six members of the Annex Security Team who fought to defend the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya after waves of attacks by militants on September 11, 2012. The film stars James Badge Dale, John Krasinski, Pablo Schreiber, Max Martini, David Denman and Dominic Fumusa, with supporting roles by Toby Stephens, Alexia Barlier and David Costabile. Filming on location began on April 27, 2015, in Libya.
Upon its release on January 15, 2016, by Paramount Pictures, 13 Hours grossed over $69 million worldwide against a production budget of $50 million, becoming one of Bay's lowest-grossing films. It also received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its performances, action sequences, and dark tone, but criticized the script for historical liberties. Bay's direction also received a mixed response, with many criticizing his emphasis on over-the-top action, but some also noting it as one of his most mature and grounded films. 13 Hours received an Oscar nomination for Best Sound Mixing at the 89th Academy Awards.
Plot
In 2012, following the overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Benghazi is named one of the most dangerous places in the world.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” is 2016 film directed by Michael Bay. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Hours, Secret and Soldiers, not as a finished interpretation.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19865453. The first chronological checks are 2016, 2014, 2012 and 2015.
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This entry incorporates text from “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.