Rating: 
Summary: trashy
Review: If you want to learn about the Cuban Crisis, read about it or research it or see a documentary video. This was VERY disappointing. Not safe for children, and not good for adults for one major reason.....the language was CONSTANTLY VULGAR. From variations of the "d" word to loose use of the "sh" and a "f" word to BOMBARDMENT WITH SAYING JESUS CHRIST'S NAME AS SLANG OVER AND OVER AND OVER (amazing number of times!). We trashed it at it's end. Simply not necessary to use this bad language like this. My wife and I were appalled, only expecting a couple profanities at best. Worst of all, a minister recommended this to a conference of people.
Rating: 
Summary: We know the ending, but Thirteen Days is still a nail-biter
Review: On October 14, 1962 a United States spy plane flying high over the island nation of Cuba took a photograph of a chilling sight: a military encampment being run by a group of Soviet army personnel. The Russkies were busily installing medium range ballistic missiles that would put the eastern half of the United States within range of a nuclear attack. For some reason that remains hidden to history, then Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev didn't think this little project would raise any hackles in Washington.Khrushchev was wrong. From the time that President John Kennedy learned of the threat until the time the Soviets backed down and began to remove the missiles, a little less than two weeks later, was one of the most tense, and possibly least understood, periods in United States history. I lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis as a child, lived through the daily "duck and cover" exercises at school, as if covering your head with your hands could help you survive a nuclear blast. I lived through my father's regrets over moving his family from the relative safety of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to the prime target that was New Orleans, Louisiana, a target that sat so far below sea level that the construction of bomb shelters was not possible. I breathed in my parents' fear and uncertainty, saw the dread written on the faces of my teachers, and tried to decipher as many snippets of worried adult conversation as I could pick up. But until I saw Kevin Costner's new movie, Thirteen Days, I had no idea that we, as a nation, literally came within hours of nuclear Armageddon. In this tightly scripted outing by David Self, (based upon the book, The Kennedy Tapes - Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis, by Philip D. Zelikow and Ernest R. May) the true terror of those days comes alive. Costner plays Kenny O'Donnell, a college friend JFK has appointed as his special advisor. Through his eyes, we watch Kennedy and his brother, Robert, play a heart-stopping game of diplomatic and military brinkmanship, fighting not only the Soviets, but also their own military commanders, who, despite Kennedy's record as a war hero, never trusted their commander in chief. Thirteen Days features a number of strong performances, including Dylan Baker as Robert McNamara and Bruce Greenwood as President Kennedy. Kostner is competent, but his Boston accent is uneven, and that was a bit of a distraction. When is Costner going to learn that accents are not his strong point? One would have thought after the embarrassment of Robin Hood, the man would have never attempted another accent again as long as he lived. Roger Donaldson shows a sure hand as the director, giving just enough information to keep the audience informed without overwhelming them. One warning: this is an adult film about adult subject matter, something that would bore younger children, and frighten older ones. Get a sitter, so you can enjoy Thirteen Days and all its complexities without interruption.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a bad flick
Review: This was a great story based on the real events of the Cuban Missile Crisis. My only real compaint is Kevin Costner's character. I don't mind him as an actor, my only problem is that he sounds more like John F. Kennedy than the person playing the JFK character. Go figure. Other than that, a great movie.
Rating:
Summary: History and Movies.
Review: This is a movie about the Cuban Missile Crisis told from the perspective of Kenneth O'Donnell (Kevin Costner), special aid and advisor to President Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood). Contrary to what many critics have suggested, the film is fairly historically accurate. Events are compressed, as they almost always are in historical movies and a few details have been changed to make the film flow better. However, other than that, the movie is pretty true to history. The major difference between this and most Hollywood history films is that the drama is built through a cast of everymen. Costner stars, but he's more the narrator. The film illustrates how there wasn't one villian or hero in the Crisis. Kevin Costner stars in the best role he has played since the father he played in THE WAR. His Bostonian accent is a little off, but he does better than many who have tried. Bruce Greenwood studied the life of JFK intensely to prepare for his role as President Kennedy. He gets most of the mannerisms and characteristics correctly, but he didn't even try the accent. I may be biased, but I can't think of JFK without thinking of that twangy Bostonian accent. Steven Culp is great as Attorney General Bobby Kennedy. Out of the three main leads, he hits the nail on the head. I enjoyed watching the film, but it failed to rivet me in my seat. After Adlai Stevenson's grand moment in the UN (which also happened to be my favorite scene), much of the film's momentum seemed to drain away. However, other than that, THIRTEEN DAYS was an enjoyable historical movie.
Rating:
Summary: More of a documentary then a movie
Review: This is a great choice for fans of war movies, dramas, and Kevin Costner fans alike! The history was pretty accurate to the actual events of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The acting was well done and it actually kept the viewers in suspense even though you knew the ending. The only downside is it's more like a documentary with it's twists and turn or lack thereof. But don't let that stop you from buying this great masterpiece by Infini Film!
Rating:
Summary: Laughibly Bad
Review: Kevin Costner's "performance" in this dreadful film should finally earn him the lack of noteriety he has so ham-handedly earned. I'm only upset that I couldn't give it less than 1 star. When Costner first began to speak, I thought he was making fun of people with Boston accents. Then he kept speaking that way and I realized "He thinks he's *doing* a Boston accent". Pathetic. Boring. Read a book about the Cuban Missle Crisis.
Rating:
Summary: Movie good but not history
Review: The movie may be fine, but the premise of Kennedy standing up to Khrushchev is wrong.
I voted for JFK for president and when he was elected I was at Gitmo Bay, Cuba with a Navy fighter squadron for gunnery exercises.
During the Cuban missile crises I was aboard the USS Franklin D Roosevelt in the Med. According to the Stars and Strips we received aboard ship, Khrushchev had said he would remove his missiles if we would remove our missiles from Turkey, but Kennedy reportedly said no deal. The Soviets removed the missiles from Cuba and very shortly I'm reading a Stars and Stripes article about all our missiles being removed from Turkey!
It was obvious that a secret deal must have been made to make Kennedy look good. His popularity had really plummeted after his about face during the Bay of Pigs invasion.
I was crushed as a Catholic and career Navy to have the first president from either category to be elected to behave as he had. There was no one I knew in the Navy that wasn't disgusted with him.
Rating:
Summary: Astute, absorbing, frightening
Review: I was not looking forward to seeing Thirteen Days because its subject is the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. This event was easily among the top ten darkest moments in mankind's history, and I didn't want to see it trivialized, sanitized or rewritten simply for the purposes of entertainment. I am happy to report that this did not happen. The movie is true to the story, at least insofar as a screenplay can be accurate. A movie is forced to compact historical events and to alter them to a degree so that a logical and interesting story can unfold. The highest comment I can pay the movie is that I was riveted. After all, I knew how it ended. For those who are unfamiliar with the Cuban missile crisis, here is a brief rundown. From almost the moment W.W.II ended, America and the former Soviet Union were involved in a Cold War. This resulted in a vast buildup of nuclear arms. It reached the point where the two foes could easily have destroyed all of mankind. The real danger lay in the fact that the warheads could be launched so swiftly. Each nation needed a first strike capability. This created an aura of paranoia, because the country that didn't strike first might find it had no chance to strike back. In 1962 the Russians, who had befriended Fidel Castro after he took over the Cuban government by force in 1958, decided to put nuclear missiles on that island just ninety miles off America's shores. Then President John F. Kennedy, his advisors and our military leaders found themselves in an extremely dangerous situation. They had to force the Soviets to remove the missiles, but doing so risked the possibility of nuclear war. It is unclear just how close we came, but it is possible that, if things had gone completely wrong, none of us would have lived to tell about it. The makers of Thirteen Days chose to make as their protagonist Kenney O'Donnell [Kevin Costner], who was an advisor, as well as a friend, to President Kennedy [Bruce Greenwood] and his brother, Robert [Steven Culp], the Attorney General. O'Donnell acts as our eyewitness to the events. We see the turmoil created within the White House. We watch as politicians and military leaders jockey for position. A debate rages over whether a diplomatic solution or an attack on Cuba is the best tactic. I doubt that our various generals were quite as hawkish as the movie shows them to be, but then what other solution outside of armed conflict is the military trained for? It is also doubtful that O'Donnell had such a central a role in the crisis resolution, but a movie must have some personal drama in order to hold our attention. Outside of these two dubious areas, I think the movie is remarkably faithful to history. This is Costner's best role and best movie in quite sometime, and I am thrilled to see him acting in something so good. This is the second time he has worked with director Roger Donaldson. The first time was in 1987, the year that made him a star. Ironically, the movie, No Way out, was also a political thriller involving America vs. Russia. Bruce Greenwood does a magnificent job portraying JFK. Mr. Greenwood is Canadian, and I suppose this may indicate just how difficult it was to cast the part. History buffs and people who enjoy a good thriller should love Thirteen Days. I hope they appreciate the importance and meaning of the story. There is not enough action in it to suit some viewers. Of course, if war had not been averted, they might not be here to see this or any other movie.
Rating:
Summary: Good history, bad accents, dramatic film
Review: A dramatic -- and, amazingly, fairly accurate -- take on the Cuban Missile Crisis. There are some historical flubs: Costner's character is not very true to life in terms of the role he played in the JFK White House, for instance. And the Boston accents are atrocious(luckily Costner usually forgets he's supposed to have one. Why can't they just hire people from Boston? These accents are worse than in _Quiz Show_). But both Kennedys are excellent and the dialogue, in some cases lifted from the transcripts of the ExComm meetings, is true-to-life (and thus, pretty scary. We came closer than most people remember to Armageddon.)
Rating: 
Summary: Portentous and expensive but still interesting
Review: I could have given "Thirteen Days" more stars if it weren't for a shot of JFK as the Cuban Missile Crisis is heating up, looking out the window of his office at children playing on the White House lawn, just to remind us all of what's REALLY at stake here. Come on -- is it necessary to thump people over the head with the consequences of a nuclear exchange? This kind of unnecessary drama-building detracted from the movie, in my opinion. Another example is that bits of the movie were shot in black-and-white, just to remind us of how serious a historical event this was. Like another reviewer, this movie reminded me of "Glengarry Glen Ross", in that the heart of the movie is about a conflict between adamant men -- John and Robert Kennedy are trying to steer the Cuban Missile Crisis away from an armed conflict, while the Joint Chiefs are scappin' for a fight and hope to escalate the situation. There are lots of expensive-looking shots in "Thirteen Days" that I thought only detracted from the story. We find out on the filmmaker's commentary track that they used some actual ships from the period during the blockade scenes, and there is a graceful but superfluous scene where a brave American pilot climbs into the upper atmosphere to evade anti-air missiles. If I had made "Thirteen Days", it would have cost 1/20 as much and like "Glen Ross" would have consisted solely of the conversations between the protagonists, and been more focused on the true conflict as a result. Because of these dramatic devices I was skeptical of the historical accuracy of the movie, and I know that the role of Kevin Costner's friend-of-the-Kennedys character is inflated to provide a window into the lives of John and Bobby. I was therefore pleased to hear on the commentary track that the source material drew directly from the White House tapes that captured the original conversations as they happened, so the movie's depiction of how close America came to bombing Cuba and escalating towards World War III rings frighteningly true. The actors who play John and Robert Kennedy do a good job of portraying strong, principled men who still harbor doubts about themselves and their ability to make the right decision. To be honest, I have a negative gut reaction to the glowing light in which the movie depicts the Kennedys; I wasn't alive in the 60's so I have no way of knowing if they were really as saintly as people give them credit for, but my impression is that their stratospheric reputations have been inflated by time and sympathy. Either way, though, I am pleased that a nuclear showdown was averted at the time and give them credit for navigating an extremely delicate situation when they were operating with patchy information and fighting against both the Russians and the warmongering American generals. Long story short: "Thirteen Days" has too many Hollywood-hero moments but was still fascinating for its insights into the way the U.S. responded to the Cuban missile threat, and also increased my respect for the Kennedys (no small task, skeptic that I am). It's worth seeing.
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