Rating: 
Summary: Taut Cold War drama, but flawed.
Review: This is an excellent Cold War drama depicting the Cuban Missile Crisis. The storyline is brisk and interesting. The movie holds your interest all the way through in a way that's becoming rare these days with some of Hollywood's (and all of Europe's) overlong movies.This is the Cuban Missile Crises from the perspective of Kevin O'Donnell, Special Assistant to President Kennedy. This fact is the biggest flaw in the movie. O'Donnell was essentially Kennedy's appointment's secretary and political advisor, which is not a trivial role. However, it is almost impossible not to conclude after viewing this film that O'Donnell's role is very much inflated. This little fact is given away by the fact that Kevin Costner plays O'Donnell. O'Donnell is the one (if you can believe the movie) who figures out that the "back channel" contact from the KGB is directly from Khruschev. Golly, what was the CIA doing through all this? Nope, it took Kevin Costner to deduce this. Not only is he Kennedy's right hand man and political advisor, but he is the only competent intelligence analyst we have too? Come on. The other flaw in the movie is the "Barbra Streisand" view of the military that it takes. This film portrays all of JFK's Joint Chiefs of Staff as slavering warmongers. Hollywood just couldn't restrain itself from trashing the military in a way that is neither subtle, believable, or in good taste. Well, doubtless Julia Roberts, Barbra, and the rest will be pleased. I was not. Were it not for the inflation of O'Donnell/Costner's role (which wasn't believable) and the caricatures of the military men, this movie would have rated 5 stars. Other than these flaws it is a believable, well-acted, fast-paced, and well-directed depiction of a pivotal moment of the Cold War. Recommended despite the flaws. The DVD is superb. Lots of nice extras. The sound and video are first-rate. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Two Different Films
Review: There really are two different films here. The first is the movie itself. It's a good solid movie with Greenwood and Culp doing fairly decent impressions of JFK and RFK without trying to mimic them exactly. Kevin Costner seems misplaced in this picture. He does a good job and is a fine actor, but his celebrity takes away from the overall effect of the movie. Did Kenny O'Donnell really have that much influence over events? Was he really omnipresent at many meetings and conferences? He was a powerful individual in the Kennedy White House, but Costner's presence raises those questions. Was the character written for him so that he had more to do or is the history here correct? Costner does give the character life and doesn't intrude constantly on the event itself. Actually, the biggest problem with his portrayal is he is the only actor present with major star power. The other actors are fine and have been in other good films and do just as good a job, if not better, as Costner. But Costner stands out, in part, because there is no other actor with his reputation present. That provides a superficial problem for those familiar with his other work. This film does a great job at portraying the behind the scenes maneuvering during the Cuban Missle Crisis. And it brings back the fears that I remember feeling when it happened. Only 11 at the time, it seemed to me and many of my friends that the world as we knew it was about to disappear and us with it. Technically, I find the shifting from color to black and white a bit distracting. It's done for effect to mirror the extensive use of black and white film in 1962 when compared to color but the changes don't seem to come at reasonable times. In other words, why the color shift at the time chosen by the director? The second film is the DVD edition. Seeing it with the Infinifilm feature really helps to explain the background history of the event. When this feature is on, the viewer will be notified of times when more historical information about a scene or event is available, allow him to go to that information if he chooses and return to the film where he left off. That's a fantastic learning tool and makes this film a cut above others. Too often, historical films condense events and give incorrect impressions of the role a particular person had in the event. The Infinifilm process eliminates that problem and can answer questions the viewer may have as to what really happened. It didn't satisfactorily answer the question of how much O'Donnell was involved in my view. But I liked it nevertheless. The DVD is definitely a buy, especially if you are a student of history and/or lived during the crisis.
Rating:
Summary: The Cuban Missile Crisis
Review: After reading a bit about the presidency of JFK, I decided to watch this movie to get a more dramatic feel for what happened during this part of American history. This was a fairly good film for that purpose, but there are parts where the filmmakers were overdoing it a bit. The movie starts with footage of nuclear detonations. Perhaps this is a bit much, but it does illustrate the point of what the parties involved in the crisis were flirting with. What puzzled me was that other images of detonations occur in different parts of the movie, and I am not sure why this is. If you are doing a historical film, then use the detonation when there is one, like when the U.S. did a test during the crisis. Any other image would just confuse the viewer. The film also uses some footage of Walter Cronkite talking about the crises. I must admit that this was a very nice touch. This was in black and white whereas the rest of the movie was mostly color. Kevin Costner, playing Ken O'Donnell, speaks with a thick Massachusetts accent, but oddly his accent is much thicker than the ones used for JFK or Bobby Kennedy. I don't know if this is historically accurate, but it seems a bit odd. In all, I would recommend watching this movie if you have an interest in American history.
Rating:
Summary: Nice cold-war flick
Review: I wasn't alive during the era, so I don't really no what the nation was feeling at the time. But this movie does a good job of bringing the viewer into a tense, delicate atmosphere. Costner has an interesting part of being JFKs advisor...but of course he steals the picture away from the president...that makes sense, right? Because we all know it was the white house aides that saved the day. That, and the constant allusions to The Guns of August were the only things I disliked about the movie. I've owned it for a long time now, and I still watch it occasionally.
Rating: 
Summary: On the brink of World War III
Review: I have watched this video many times, and I do not know if I will ever tire from it. The script is great, and the actors do a very good job. I had heard of the Cuba Crises, but I had never known what took place inside the White House before I watched this video.
Rating:
Summary: Five Stars for Entertainment
Review: It was possible for me to enjoy this movie in its purest form. Having very little knowledge of U.S. politics and not much knowledge of the history of this period gave me a distinct advantage; I could relax and to relish this film as a piece of entertainment and not be troubled by issues of accuracy or political bias. The director achieved something to marvel at; how to bring to life political machinations in way that not only made them understandable, but also entertaining and 100% credible. Putting Kevin Costner at the centre of the story as presidential adviser Kenneth O'Donnell was a masterstroke providing the viewer with a grandstand view of events. This subject matter in the wrong hands could so easily produce a movie of the most dire content. It's a mistake to judge movies as if they were documentaries; because they never are. Put your feet up and enjoy the show, for this is a good one.
Rating:
Summary: awesome! thrill to the end.
Review: i like all features inside the dvd, cast commentaries, JFK speeches, Visual Effect explanation, and dont forget the deleted scenes, including the director's commentary why they erased / modified the scene. Bruce Greenwood; is one hell of an actor! love the voice.
Rating:
Summary: Extras on the Infinfilm DVD are Excellent
Review: As I write this, there are over 150 prior reviews of this movie, so I am not going to belabor a synopsis or casting. I vote two thumbs up. Yes, there may be a few minor flaws. Kevin Costner's attempt at a Boston accent is a little over-the-top. The actor playing JFK doesn't even attempt the accent, and doesn't look that much like him - but he has the back ache part right. Get this Infinifilm DVD for the movie and for the excellent extras. Watch the movie. Then watch it again in the "Historical Figures Commentary" mode. You'll hear explanations by JFK himself, Sergei (son of Nikita) Krushchev, Pierre Salinger, Robert McNamara, Marvin Kalb, Sam Donaldson and others. You'll learn human aspects of the Cuban Missile Crisis, like: unattended Briefing Boards in the Cabinet Room sometimes came to have a mysterious blue substance on them (Caroline and her crayons.) And there's an interview that Sander Van Ocre did with Kenny O'Donnell (in which not even Kenny himself sounds as "Boston" as Kevin Costner's Boston.) This DVD is an excellent recreation of the intensity of the times. Can I come out from underneath my desk now?
Rating: 
Summary: A good effort
Review: 13 Days is an attempt to shed daylight on the many behind the scenes events that took place during October 1962 when the US and USSR were eyeball to eyeball over Soviet missiles being based in Cuba. Yet I felt dissatisfied with the effort. I feel like it was more of a Kennedy's vs The Department of Defense than the US vs USSR. The senior uniformed leaders are depicted as a group of neanderthals out to start World War III. According to the film, it was only by the constant pressure of the Kennedy's and MacNamara that this event did not come to pass. One of the most telling events that took place during the 13 day period is totally overlooked by the makers of the film. I refer to the brief presentation that Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Shoup, made. He took a scale image of Cuba, placed it on a map of the US to show the size of the island, and then placed a dot on Cuba to represent Tarawa and told the assembled leaders the casualty cost in Marines and Navy corpsmen to take that island. That was probably the most important reason for not invading Cuba and the film never mentions it. Maybe because it was a member of the JCS not fitting the sterotype of the film. This did bring back memories of the event for me. I remember sitting in the living room watching Stevenson and Zoran going at each other in the court of world opinion. I also remember watching from my classroom in Groton Connecticut as all the submarines that could sail, left the submarine base and headed out to sea. It certainly brought the issue home to me. Also during that period my father, on the submarine force staff, would come home for a few hours of sleep and head back to the office. I never really saw him for that entire period. I would only know he'd been home by the cigarette buts in a previously empty ash tray. This is a tolerable film if one views it as only one interpretation of what happened during those days. I would recommend it but only after the viewer were to read Tuchman's Guns of August.
Rating:
Summary: If you weren't alive then- you can experiene it now!
Review: I am telling you, if you sit down and watch the entire movie, you really get the feeling of how close we came to a nuclear exchange! The actors play all their parts marvelously well, and by the end of the movie you really feel like you lived that time in history! Nothing more is revealed than what the top brass knew at the time, nothing left out that might have been known. I love the movie!
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