13 Days is a suspenseful political thriller chronicling the events behind 1962's Cuban Missile Crisis. It takes place from the point of view of Kenny O'Donnell, special assistant to President Kennedy. I can't speak as to the historical accuracy of the movie, so I won't address it here.

13 Days is 2.5 hours long, and only had one mood throughout the film, which made it seem even longer. You may do better thinking that you're going to watch a documentary than an actual movie - this makes a very good documentary, but a mediocre film.

Also marring the movie are various editing and directing aberrations: occasional strange camera angles and visual tricks stuck in with no consistency in direction style. The movie changes from black and white to color at various points with no readily apparent rationale behind it; my best guess is it went to black and
white whenever exactly recreating documented events, but as there was no consistency as to the type of event, it was extremely confusing.

The writing occasionally felt like someone had stitched together interview sound bites into entire conversations. Many of the supporting characters seemed like stereotypes, the actors picked more for their physical resemblance to their character than anything else.

Despite all these problems, the movie managed to be fairly interesting. I came out knowing much more about the missile crisis than when I went in, and the political intrigue was such that you really didn't know what was going to happen (beyond World War III being averted, since, well, we're still here). It had the potential to be much better than it was, though - more consistent directing and a better paced script would have made it into a 4- or 5-star movie; as it is, I can't give it more than 3.


Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older