FilmBlather.com

"Sometimes there's only one right choice, and you thank God when it's so clear."

I'm not convinced that making a straight-forward historical drama like Thirteen Days is useful. What is its purpose? I don't believe for a second the Hollywood pundits who insist that their movies have benevolent intentions to inspire viewers to learn more about the crisis or event in question; especially not when the director of said movie is Roger Donaldson, of Dante's Peak fame. The challenge, then, is to make a movie like this riveting enough to justify fiddling with the historical material, to make us forget that we are watching modified events from a history book and involve us in the drama.

Thirteen Days, the new Cuban Missile Crisis thriller proudly sporting the slogan "You'll Never Believe How Close We Came!" almost accomplishes this. The right elements are in place, but the film doesn't quite click. Detractors can lay blame on one of the lead actors and an overly linear script; supporters can praise the capable direction and the undeniable excitement some parts of the film generate. My opinion of the film lies somewhere between the two.

We did indeed come close to nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. JFK, played here by an uncanny Bruce Greenwood, was nearly pressured by his hell-bent advisors and Chiefs of Staff into pressing the button. The way the film would have it, disaster was averted with the help of Attorney General Bobby Kennedy (Steven Culp), Presidential Aide Kenny O'Donnell (Kevin Costner) and UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson.

Greenwood does a beautiful JFK; he looks uncannily like the man. He does a good Boston accent, only hinting at it instead of shoving it in our face (more on that later). I'm not sure how well his mannerisms match those of our former leader, but I definitely believed him as the president. Though Greenwood is getting only supporting credits in the film's advertising, his is really the lead role; I was expecting him to get nominated for an award, but the film somehow never gained Oscar momentum.

Kevin Costner is another story. A disaster story. His presence here is the equivalent of a monsoon hitting a peaceful seaside resort. I don't hate Kevin Costner as an actor -- only as a director -- and the reason he almost singlehandedly ruins this movie is his Boston accent. Everytime he came on screen, I was silently praying to the movie gods: won't they please let him keep his mouth shut? If I heard him say "We gaatta get ya caaah from the garaaaage" one more time, I may have walked out. What were they thinking? Real people don't talk that way! It's annoying to hear movie people talk like that. I never thought a simple accent could have this devastating an effect on a movie; you learn new things every day.

The film's storytelling is often exciting, but always glaringly simple. Thirteen Days doesn't take any kind of stand on the crisis and doesn't reveal anything new about it. It takes the filming the history book approach, albeit in an engaging way. The movie's never boring, never overtly dumb, but it never quite gets off the ground. Part of it is Kevin Costner's fault. The rest can be blamed on director Roger Donaldson, who refuses to go beneath the surface of historical events other than to speculate on behind-closed-doors dialogue.

Note: The trailer for the long-awaited adaptation of The Lord of the Rings premiered with Thirteen Days. That two-minute spot was more riveting than anything seen in the two-and-a-half hour drama.