It’s fair to say Michael Bay isn’t exactly known across the world for subtlety. This is, after all, a man who has spent five movies finding the best and most elaborate ways for gigantic, daft robots to beat the screws out of each other. However, between Optimus Prime and Megatron pretending they’re Professor X and Magneto, Bay made one of the most grounded movies of his career, trending now.
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi takes the siege intensity of Black Hawk Down and combines it with the modern counterterrorism backdrop of Zero Dark Thirty. Based on Mitchell Zuckoff’s book, 13 Hours dramatizes the September 11, 2012, attacks in Benghazi, Libya. When an American diplomatic compound comes under attack, a six-man security team stationed at a nearby CIA annex attempts to defend American personnel amid an increasingly chaotic and deadly assault.
The movie stars John Krasinski (A Quiet Place) as Jack Silva, James Badge Dale (The Pacific) as Tyrone “Rone” Woods, Pablo Schreiber (Halo) as Kris “Tanto” Paronto, David Denman (The Office) as Dave “Boon” Benton, Dominic Fumusa (Nurse Jackie) as John “Tig” Tiegen, Max Martini (Pacific Rim) as Mark “Oz” Geist, Matt Letscher (The Flash) as Ambassador Chris Stevens and Toby Stephens (Black Sails) as Glen “Bub” Doherty.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars
Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.
💊The Matrix
🔥Mad Max
🌧️Blade Runner
🏜️Dune
🚀Star Wars
01
You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one.
02
In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.
03
What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.
04
How do you deal with authority you don’t trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.
05
Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.
06
Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.
08
What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.
Your Fate Has Been Calculated You’d Survive In…
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
The Resistance, Zion
The Matrix
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.
The Wasteland
Mad Max
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.
Los Angeles, 2049
Blade Runner
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.
Arrakis
Dune
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.
Was ‘13 Hours’ a Success?
The movie wasn’t exactly one of Bay’s biggest commercial successes, but it was never really meant to be. The film was produced for approximately $50 million, but it only managed to bring in around $69 million, which included $52.9 million domestically. As for the critical response, it was mixed to positive. The movie currently sits at 51% on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences were considerably warmer toward it, giving 13 Hours an 83% audience score.
Collider’s review was not a positive one, to be blunt. The review stated that the film “becomes tedious at almost two and a half hours, but increasingly repulsive as the movie carries on.” The review also adds that Bay wishes for the audience to take his work seriously, but that he “lacks the intellectual and moral rigor to make that demand.” Ouch.
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is streaming on digital now, and charting on HBO Max in international territories. Stay tuned to Collider for all the latest news and updates on streaming.
