Rating- * * * (3/5)
I try to make my reviews entertaining and educational at the same time so here’s a new term for all you aspiring movie lovers to learn: box-office poison. This is when an actor who was at one point well-respected and popular suddenly drops off the map by appearing in several bad movies in succession. As a result, the actor is viewed by Hollywood as poisonous to movie sales and is no longer trusted with important or potentially great roles. Of all the actors in Hollywood today, Kevin Costner is probably the name most synonymous with box-office poison. He started his career off pretty well, appearing in popular films like Field of Dreams, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and the Best Picture winner Dances With Wolves. However, around the early to mid-nineties, Costner had several colossal failures, including the big-budget and low selling The Postman and the most infamous box-office bomb of all time, Water World. From that point on, Costner has not been able to score a single big hit and Thirteen Days was no exception. This film follows the Cuban Missile Crisis from the perspective of a presidential aide played by Costner. Costner struggles with that trademark Kennedy accent and it comes off sounding very awkward. On the other hand, the actor that plays President Kennedy doesn’t use any accent at all, and the actor playing Robert Kennedy uses it even though Robert didn’t really even have the accent! I know it’s not that big of a deal but if you’re gonna do a historical film, do it right! There are some good scenes, particularly those between the Kennedy brothers and the scenes with elder senator Addlay Stevenson. The movie is an accurate and interesting depiction of the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis and does a good job of showing how close we came to a nuclear war and how a few great men saved us from it. However, it is ultimately a rather mediocre movie and a rather unmemorable experience. If you’re a big Kennedy fan or a history buff, it is a very interesting look at this important event in American history and in that respect, it’s a very well done film. It is not, however, very entertaining and you really have to have an interest in the events in order to get any enjoyment out of the film. I would recommend this film to lovers of politics, history, or war thrillers but not, unfortunately, to the average moviegoer.