SnoopyStyle It's October, 1962, the Cuban missile crisis. Photos from the U-2 spy plane show possible nuclear missiles on Cuban soil. This sets off high level panic that almost ends with WWIII. The movie centers on the Special Assistant to the President, Kenny O'Donnell (Kevin Costner). The push from the military is for a full invasion of Cuba. However, the Kennedy brothers and Kenny push back.This is more like a brilliant stage play done with so much intensity that the audience is right there in the room. There are flashes of newsreels, CGI, and other footage to fill out the movie with the outside world. It is very much a political thriller inside the President's inner circle. It is tense despite the well known ending and event highlights. The use of Costner as a side character pushed out to be the lead is brilliant. It allows the best (but lesser known) actors in some of the most iconic roles around. Surprisingly, there are also flashes of humor. The acting is amazing. This is one of the best movies about those thirteen days.

Desertman84 Thirteen Days is a docudrama directed by Roger Donaldson about the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, seen from the perspective of the US political leadership. Kevin Costner stars, with Bruce Greenwood featured as John F. Kennedy.Donaldson teams up with Costner for another political thriller after both made No Way Out.After President John F. Kennedy is shown photographs from a spy plane detailing the presence of missiles in Cuba capable of obliterating massive areas of the U.S., he must immediately decide the most effective course of action for the country. With the aid of best friend and special assistant Kenny O'Donnell and brother Robert, the President must avoid a dire chain of events that could be dictated by General Curtis LeMay, who would rather take immediate action and invade Cuba. After initial reticence about leaking the information to the nation, President Kennedy eventually tells of the conflict, leading to widespread panic and a blockade of Cuba. With the aid of Robert McNamara and Adlai Stevenson, the leaders must find a way to alleviate the tension of the situation. The film is a good movie about a profound moment in world history.It provides more suspense than the car crashes and breathless chases of most action movies even though the outcome is known at the end.It has great performances from Costner and Greenwood,who was memorable as JFK.Also,it is easily the best film that Donaldson ever made.Overall,it was a highly competent and refreshing movie.

elshikh4 It's impossible not to relate between the date of the film's events, and the date of its production. The crises of the Russian missiles of 1962 and Kennedy's caution towards the idea of declaring a war against Cuba come to assure the smartness of the late leader, and expose – at the same time – the stupidity of other living leaders ! The spread lines, here and there in the film, about striking a little nation and turning it back to the Stone Age as something the people of that nation, along with the Americans themselves, don't deserve at all is not a matter far from any other American war on other little nations. The link is more than tangible. See how it prognosticates, or reads well, the American war on Iraq with the last line of "Let's broaden our influence in the middle east.", said by one of the white house's wicked exacts, particularly after the peaceful termination that the Cuban-American situation ended up to.Choosing (Roger Donaldson) to take over the director's chair was a bit disappointing, maybe for him and sure for us. Because he's that clever pure action thriller director (No Way Out, The Getaway, Dante's Peak, The Recruit) he was out of his area for nearly all the time. Save the moment of picturing the missiles by fast planes, which was done astonishingly, (Donaldson) was manacled by endless conversations in closed rooms. I think he got board in way got to us as well.(Donaldson) couldn't handle the script the smart way it did with the thrill. There is a cold sense all over it. Most of the scenes is TV-ish with executive mark (standing men, talking in the oval office). Resorting to black and white image sometimes didn't give it any deepness or singularity. Add to that, not going into anyone's life or background else the president's consultant (played by the film's star and producer Kevin Costner).Using stock footage, from old documentaries or films, that show the Marines getting ready for war wasn't for the film's sake. The quality of their image contradicted highly with the so modern quality of the film's image. Therefore they looked so inharmonic, unlike the intended. Strangely the 44-year-old Bruce Greenwood looked older than the 45-year-old John F. Kennedy, and uglier. Poor Greenwood was also eaten by the presence of Costner and the character that was given to him; despite how many historical sources state that Kenny O'Donnell had no role in the crisis, and that it was in fact Ted Sorensen who pulled the administration together.A producer proves that he or she is distinct and bold by being enthusiastic for the different thing. (Costner) produced Dances with Wolves (1990) with a story about the old west, acted in Red Indian language, and ran for 3 hours when it was usual to refuse only the first part ! Knowing the nature of (Thirteen Days), being anything like the epical, flashy and meant to entertain other films he produced, such as Wyatt Earp (1994), Waterworld (1995), The Postman (1997), you have to respect the role he played to make a project like this see the light. This time he gives quite a testimony about an American leader's wisdom and leaning to piece, once. Let alone that testimony's impeccable timing. OK, Costner is not only distinct and bold, he also has a conscience. That's something rare to find in a producer in Hollywood ! Couple of years before this film, precisely on October 31, 1998, Bill Clinton signed a law which instituted a policy of "regime change" against Iraq. Although it explicitly stated it did not speak to the use of American military forces, Clinton launched a four-day bombing campaign, lasting from December 16 to December 19, 1998. The rest can be watched through George W. Bush's presidency, when Iraq was invaded for false accusations of owning nuclear arms. So if Clinton, Bush, or Obama didn't make themselves, and the world, a favor by watching and understanding the film that took place in their presidential house, then let me hope that next presidents would. However, obviously lately, stupidity, greed, or simply the arms dealers, don't want any similar critical situation to end in just 13 days. Enough to say that the one who managed to do it, John Kennedy, was killed in the next year (ironically after 13 months of the crises' start !). All the American propaganda films is about "let's war", and "how we're good at it". This one is about "let's not war", and "how we can do it good", making rare propaganda for rationality over madness. It is a good film about giant event. Despite being a bit cinematically pale, its strength comes from its well-made sensitive drama. And its uniqueness comes from being the history lesson that nearly nobody wanted / wants to listen to.

Jackson Booth-Millard I knew the leading actor of the film, but I had no idea what it was going to be about, only that the critics give it four stars out of five, so it sounded good enough to try, from director Roger Donaldson (Dante's Peak, The World's Fastest Indian). Based on the true events, in October 1962, USAF U-2 surveillance has discovered that the Soviet Union are taking nuclear ballistic missiles in Cuba, with the potential to kill up to 80 million Americans and destroy large bomber bases if put in operation. As President, John F. Kennedy (Racing Stripes' Bruce Greenwood) and his advisers, including Kenny O'Donnell (Kevin Costner) must come up with a strategy to combat the situation against the Soviets. Kennedy tries to stay calm and strong against the threat, but his advisers in the Pentagon are saying that he should consider a military strike on Cuba, which would cause an invasion. It is Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara (Dylan Baker) that devises the plan to create a blockade by the navy so Cuba and the missiles cannot reach the country. The Russians however ignore the blockade and to get involved themselves, and things start getting worse, but communications with the threatening countries after thirteen days do in the end come to a settlement. Also starring Steven Culp as Robert F. Kennedy, Michael Fairman as Adlai Stevenson, Henry Strozier as Dean Rusk, Frank Wood as McGeorge Bundy, Kevin Conway as General Curtis LeMay, Tim Kelleher as Ted Sorensen, Len Cariou as Dean Acheson and Home Alone 3's Olek Krupa as Andrei Gromyko. Costner, who you may remember was also in JFK, does do alright despite his rather silly Alabama style accent, Greenwood looks a little old to play a convincing Kennedy, but he does do well, and there are some small gripping moments that do reflect the realistic events during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it is I suppose a worthwhile historical drama. Good!