Thirteen Days(2000) Film Review

 

 

Rating: 4 Stars Out Of 4, Thumbs Up.

 

Rated PG-13 For Brief Strong Language.

 

2hrs 27min/147min.

 

1 use of the F-word.

 

 

The title of the film Thirteen Days refers to those hellish 2 weeks in October of 1962, with President John F. Kennedy, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Assistant to the President Kenneth O'Donnell during the Cuban Missile Crises. An interesting topic to do a film on. Usually, when people talk about JFK, they usually refer to the 1991 Oliver Stone film, JFK. Interesting fact, Kevin Costner plays the main character in both films, but does not play Kennedy. In JFK, He plays Jim Garrison, a man investigating the assasination of the President, in Thirteen Days, He plays Assistant to the president Kenneth O'Donnell.

 

October 1962: U-2 Flight plane captures photos of the Soviet Union placing missles in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy(Bruce Greenwood), Assistant to the President Kenneth O'Donnell(Kevin Costner) and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy(Steven Culp) must find a way to stop the missile and show that the United Staes of America will not allow a missile threat. This proves to not be easy as every idea they come up with to stop the missiles are not really working. The big question on hand is, "Can we stop the misslies without triggering a nuclear war?"

 

Now, if you have brushed up on your history, you know well enough that the missles were stopped and we prevented such a war from happening. But the film is thrilling. We already know what happens, but watching these character's plights and the extreme measures they almost take is incredibly thrilling. Yes we know the outcome, but thecharacters are written and portrayed very well that it doesn't really enter your mind. The film also switches from Black and White to color in a few portions of the film which is quite unique.
 

The performances are extremely well done. Kevin Costner can be a mixed bag. He has had a lot of missfires in his career, but this might be my favorite film that he has done. His character shows a lot of courage on the outside, but on the inside, he is quite scared. Bruce Greenwood(along with Costner) adopt a Massechutes accent to portray the President of the United Staes, John F. Kennedy. Watching this, you have to really feel for Kennedy, he is the one who has to put a stop to this crises, but isn't quite sure how to do it.

The filmmakers know what their doing and do it quite well. However, there some differences between the film and what actually happened. The role O'Donnell has in the film is quite larger than in real life. In reality it was Special Counsel Ted Sorenson. Now this is a minor liberty that I can overlook.

This is an astonishing Motion Picture. The film tells the story of the 1962 Cuban Misslie Crises and does it well. The performances fit the tone of the film and then some. The pacing is fast-paced for a film that runs 147 minutes long. The emotional mentality of these charcters keeps getting under fire due to the dire seriousness of the situation. This might be a long and dialouge heavy film, but it is an important film that you all need to see.