Based on the recent book, _The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis_, "Thirteen Days" recounts the events behind the scenes in Washington DC in October 1962 when the Soviets were discovered to be placing medium-range missiles on the island of Cuba where they could threaten much of the East Coast of the United States. The Kennedy brothers, president and attorney general, had to marshal their team not only to face down the Russians but to hold their own against less-than-respectful American military brass who were spoiling for a fight. Costner plays the president's longtime friend and appointments secretary, Kenny O'Donnell, and his New England accent wanders. But Bruce Greenwood, a Canadian who has done mostly TV work up to now (appearances in Atom Egoyan's "Exotica" and "The Sweet Hereafter" excepted) is superb as John F. Kennedy, and Steven Culp looks and sounds the part of Robert Kennedy even better. Dylan Baker does a nice short turn as Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. The film is somewhat leisurely at 145 minutes, but generates a surprising amount of tension despite the viewer's foreknowledge of how it comes out. In a way, it's surprising it got made, since it consists of little more than guys talking at one another (some brief shipboard sequences shot off Rhode Island, missiles in the jungle views with the Philippines standing in for Cuba, and a few aerial flights constitute the only deviations). It apparently didn't make back its $80 million cost, though it deserved to.
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
Kevin Costner plays J.F.K's assistant (Bruce Greenwood) during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Lots of emotion and it shows how close WE REALLY CAME to Nuclear War! Gripping!
The review of this Movie prepared by Greg Howell
