RichC2

Remains to be seen if it's a sleeper hit or not... Usually has more to do with Box Office, and it's purposefully opening on the same weekend that American Sniper opened on last year in hopes of luring that same audience.

American Sniper opened to $89.3m/$107.2m over MLK weekend last year, grossing a total $350m (domestic) by the end of its run.

Osiris3657

I meant in terms of the quality of reviews, not box office.

Defiant1

Ah, so that's why it didn't get an Oscar qualifying run like American Sniper and Black Hawk Down did.

Why So Blu?

What a shame. #murica

superdeluxe

The movie doesn't try to do to much, decent look from the eyes of the soldiers on the ground.

Remarkably light on political blame game, once the shooting starts it is very intense and you can feel the tension that these men are facing.

The first hour or so is kind of slow, trying to build up a little of the set up before September 11th

Micheal Bay did not ruin the movie and kept his 'bayplosions' in check

hanshotfirst1138

It is pretty impressive that into his 80s, Eastwood managed to score the biggest box office hit of his career. Has any other filmmaker done that?

stvn1974

I predict that this film ends up making less than what has been spent on the 159 sham Benghazi hearings.

Dr. DVD

Saw this Saturday. Probably Michael Bay's best movie to date. Granted, that means it's still three stars at best, but he showed quite a bit of restraint for the most part. I can also say that there is no finger pointing or naming of names in terms of who was responsible for the situation. It's merely of presentation of "shit's going down, we have to deal with it" situations.

flagstone

I was going to guess George Miller, but (a) he's only 70 and (b) Mad Max: Fury Road hasn't quite caught up to Happy Feet in global box office yet.

RichC2

Yeah, there are quite a few articles going around how the politicization of Benghazi caused a pretty substantial public fatigue on the subject, so the timing of the movie wasn't so great.

It could have legs because of that, I think many had the assumption it was about the Hillary Clinton/Benghazi bullshit, or was otherwise political, and wasn't just a reenactment of the events.

Brack

Ridley Scott was 77 when The Martian was released, and grossed more than American Sniper. So a close second.

RichC2

Worldwide it did, to be fair a movie called "American Sniper" is going to be a tough sell in Japan. Domestically, Sniper crushed The Martian.

That aside, I find Scott to be a much better director.

EddieMoney

I find Scott to be a slightly better director than a blind and deaf quadripalegic.

Brack

The importance of domestic is so 20th Century.

The 4th highest grossing international market for American Sniper was, you guessed it, Japan.

DJariya

Just got back from a matinee. Not really caring or having paid too much attention to the politics involved with Benghazi, I thought it was a damn good action/war movie. It was a little mix of Blackhawk Down, Strike Back and Call of Duty. Very intense. 2 heart pounding siege scenes with the compound they were held up in. Also really liked the cast they assembled. I was uncertain about John Krasinski in a serious role like this, since I'm so used to him being Jim from The Office, but he sold me on his character. James Badge Dale IMO was the highlight. His character "Rone" was badass.

Most of the cast are fairly well known in TV land

John Kransinki - Jim from The Office
David Denman - Roy from The Office
James Badge Dale - 24
Max Martini - The Unit
Toby Stephens - Black Sails
David Giuntoli - Grimm
Dave Costabile - Damages, Suits, Breaking Bad

Solid work from Michael Bay outside of the Transformers movies.

Troy Stiffler

So much beard.

I like that it snubbed the political debate, and presented what happened.

Supposedly they were really picky on-set about including the details. There were a lot of little details that would be glossed over in many other productions.

JimRochester

There certainly was a disconnect and whenever something like this happens where questions abound you'll have conspiracy theorists. They exist for JFK, 9/11, Pearl Harbor (most of them are dead though), etc.

On the political side, at the very least the administration lied about it being a spontaneous demonstration that erupted into chaos over a youtube video. In fact it was known right away it was a planned terrorist attack complete with rocket propelled grenades. Hillary's released email's cite her telling both her daughter and the UAE within hours of the attack it was a terrorist action. The simple explanation is that the current regime was running for reelection and an attack could certainly hurt their chances. The conspiracy lovers are convinced there are all sorts of deeper darker ulterior motives.

Have been talking about going to see this one this weekend since I love the war movie genre regardless of historical accuracy. Battle Of The Bulge wasn't even close to accurate but I still enjoyed it. Bay's Pearl Harbor though tested that dedication. Enjoyed Sniper and Zero Dark Thirty in spite of the artistic liberties claimed to be taken with the stories.

OldBoy

this one just looks so cheesy and not good. i want to see it, but Bay and a true story? really?

Dr. Mantle

But it worked so well when he made Pain and Gain. That was true story. And it made for a great comedy, too!

superdeluxe

Well every review in here said it was decent/good, and it's bay's 2nd fresh tomato

OldBoy

looks rotten to me...

TomOpus

Look at the other movies he's directed. This one is among his highest scored. That's not too shabby for him.

movieguru

I saw this a few weeks back during a free sneak preview. Very dry movie with very little development of any of the people in the movie. Most of the action scenes felt like I was watching someone play a video game. Story not to interesting unless you aggree with the same political view as the director. If you have no opinion or don't care about the politics of the movie it's even worse.

JimRochester

Just got back and all in all a good movie. Not great but very good and Bay kept his ego in check. Very intense action scenes. Kept the cheesy dialogue in check until the end then it got super cheesy and sappy.

I did not find it overtly political. Unless you are a believer that the attacks were a spontaneous event, then you probably will believe it is. They did address that in the movie how the news orgs in the states were calling it a demonstration and they said WTF?! They were organized and planned with RPG's and mortars.

They did spend some time on how difficult it was to get authorization and assistance once the shit hit the fan. Of course over there you can never tell a friendly from an insurgent until they start shooting at you. So they couldn't rely on local help. They kept bolting.

3.5/5

Brack

Surprised at how much The Island or Bad Boys (the first one anyway) weren't well received by critics. Those are some fun action movies.