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"This is a true story," it's decreed at the beginning of "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi," director Michael Bay's latest explosion-packed pummel-fest.

Well, sure, it's true that on Sept. 11, 2012, approximately 150 armed Islamic militants attacked a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, resulting in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, a U.S. Foreign Service officer and two CIA contractors.

But "13 Hours" isn't a documentary. The details surrounding the events of that evening have become so politicized, it's still difficult to discern truth from fiction — at least a version of truth that's not filtered through the prism of right-versus-left talking points. Indeed, if Fox News pundits hadn't used Benghazi to create a wedge issue two months before the 2012 election (and beyond, with numerous investigations by a Republican-led Congress that pointed fingers at then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who ultimately accepted responsibility for Benghazi's failures), it's hard to think this movie, or the book on which it's based, would have happened.

Bay mostly steers away from the political baggage and focuses instead on the good-old-'Merican heroism of the CIA contractors — essentially hired guns, the "secret soldiers" of the film's title — headed by Jack Silva (John Krasinski), who's in Libya to support his wife and kids back home. Bay gives us miss-you-so-much scenes of Jack chatting via iPad with his family, which are as cloying as we've come to expect of scenes in Bay movies that don't involve blood splatter packs, as Jack's doting wife — pregnant, again — tells him, "The girls don't need a treehouse, Jack. They need you!" Um, maybe that's a chat they should've had before he went to one of the most dangerous cities on Earth?

Screenwriter Chuck Hogan's script is pockmarked with equally eye-rolling lines that, were they not already in a Bay flick, you'd think were lifted from his others like "Pearl Harbor," "The Rock" or "Armageddon." "You're not giving orders right now, you're taking them!" barks one character. "Maybe I'm not making myself clear!" yelps another at "Bob" (David Costabile), whose name might as well be Mean Authority Figure In Over His Head. Other than the Islamic militants, "Bob" is clearly the villain here — a stand-in for Hillary Clinton, or merely all government incompetence?

But nobody goes to Michael Bay movies for deep, thought-provoking verbiage. As a pure war movie, "13 Hours" works decently enough, if your idea of a fun time is getting cinematically punched in the face for two hours. It's packed with sweaty-palm-inducing tension and queasy hand-held camera work, about a zillion bullets, and man-crushing among soldiers who love one another (but not like that, bro) and crack wise about their private parts. Bay being Bay, he includes plenty of what he's best at — explosions on top of explosions, so much that you half expect a Transformer to show up amid all the fireballs, or at least get a warning that "13 Hours" could trigger post-traumatic stress disorder. —

HH

'13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi'

Director Michael Bay's action-thriller focuses on the heroism of CIA contractors during the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

Where • Theaters everywhere.

When • Opens Friday, Jan. 15.

Rating • R for strong combat violence throughout, bloody images and language

Running time • 144 minutes.