Thirteen Days

Synopsis: In 1962 the Soviet Union secretly started building a launch site for nuclear missiles on Cuba, right off the coast of the United States. In the White House President John F. Kennedy has to come up with a plan to stop them. His Generals are calling for air bombing and invasion of Cuba, but Kennedy knows this will inevitably end with a full scale nuclear war. Along with his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and political advisor, Kenny O’Donnell he has to find a way to prevent that from happening, but time is quickly running out...


Review: Thirteen Days is a very historically accurate portrayal of the two week long "Cuban Missile Crisis". It's shown through the eyes of Kennedy's political advisor Kenny O’Donnell, played by Kevin Costner, and it's a very good political thriller.

I feared the movie might be a little boring as it is relatively long (2,5 hours) and movies based on real events like this often end up with pacing problems. Thankfully none of that happened here. I was hooked immediately by a suspense that just keeps on going throughout the movie. I, of course, knew that there was no chance of anyone dropping "the bomb", but I knew nothing about the details of the events. It was very interesting to see how close to war it got and especially the back and forth between the Kennedy's and the military kept the movie interesting for me.


The acting was a big part of that. Bruce Greenwood and Steven Culp do great jobs as the Kennedy brothers. You really get a sense of how difficult the hard choices they have to make are. They have doubts and are constantly under pressure by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but also show real strength and determination in their handling. Kevin Costner's character, Kenny O’Donnell, is the anchor of the film and the situation really affects him and his family. Costner does a good job showing that as well as showing the difficult political situation he has to handle.


Summary: Thirteen Days is a very good political thriller that keeps you hooked all the way through and gives you some insight into a very important historical event that easily could have turned out very differently.

8 / 10