The film (and costar-coproducer Kevin Costner) drew criticism for fictionally enhancing the White House role of presidential aide Kenneth O'Donnell, but while Costner's Boston accent may be grating, his fine performance as O'Donnell offers expert witness to the crisis, its nerve-wracking escalation, and the efforts of John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood) and Robert F. Kennedy (Steven Culp) to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Russia. While Soviet missiles approach operational status in Cuba, director Roger Donaldson (who directed Costner in No Way Out) cuts to exciting U.S. Navy flights over the missile site, ramping up the tension that history itself provided. Donaldson's occasional use of black and white is self-consciously distracting, and he's further guilty of allowing a shrillness (along with repetitive, ominous shots of nuclear explosions) to invade the urgency of David Self's screenplay. Still, as Hollywood history lessons go, Thirteen Days is riveting stuff. You may find yourself wondering what might happen if reality presented a repeat scenario under less intelligent leadership. --Jeff Shannon

Thirteen Days (Infinifilm Edition)

• The Missiles of October
• JFK - Special Edition Director's Cut
• Path to War
• Truman
• All the President's Men (Two-Disc Special Edition)
• Nixon - The Election Year Edition
• Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis
• Apollo 13 (Widescreen 2-Disc Anniversary Edition)
• Wag the Dog (New Line Platinum Series)
• Seven Days in May

And some flaws, like Kevin Costner's New England accent. But I watch it all the time and I have only one criticism.

The moment we have been waiting for for two hours, i.e. After this moment, which we hardly notice, everyone is breathing a sigh of relief, the cabinet is congratulating Kennedy, Kevin Costner is saying "Every day the sun comes up says something about us" the huge drama and suspense is finally over, and we didn't really see the most dramatic moment of the story.

the Soviets finally agreeing to remove the missiles from Cuba in return for our pledge never to invade Cuba this moment, after all those scenes full of white knuckles, fear of disaster, anxiety this moment comes as the scratchy voice of a translator off-camera, "The Soviet Union has agreed." and a quick shot of some tickertape. Otherwise, a good movie.

It flashed by too quickly for us to notice. There are many things to admire in this well-ventilated political thriller.

Research materials for the book included the latest declassified materials concerning the Cuban Missile Crisis. The only thing that I find would have mad the movie better would have been the inclusion of Krushchev and Castro, which would have provided an all-inclusive presentation of events that led the world to the brink of nuclear war. I remember a Nike missile being set up at the corner of Main and Center Streets in my little town. Overall I find the movie to be historically accurate given research materials available at the time the movie was made. At he time of the event I was eight years old and I remember it as if it were yesterday. I would not only highly recommend this movie but the book "One Minute To Midnight" as well. As it stands the movie is a superb presentation of events that transpired on the American side when the Doomsday Clock was poised to strike midnight.Thirteen Days (Infinifilm Edition)

Much has been said about Kevin Costner's character but I found that the character served as a vehicle to link much of the events depicted and to provide perspective. We were THIS close to the extinction of life as we know it on planet Earth.". Friend who served in the military at the time always hold their thumb and index finger about one-eighth of an inch apart while saying, "We were THIS close to global nuclear war.". I've just finished reading a book called "One Minute To Midnight" by Michael Dobbs (2008) which I'd found absolutely fascinating. People were, to say the very least, extremely frightened.

I'd worn a red CCCP tee to work and one of the guys asked me, "What's the deal with the shirt." We'd started talking and I'd brought up the subject of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I'd asked him what the movie was about and he told me "The Cuban Missile Crisis". I found 13 Days an absolutely absorbing movie with great acting. Reading "One Minute To Midnight" absolutely enhanced the viewing of the movie for me and I found that newly revealed details in the book did in no way diminish the events depicted in the movie. My friend kept mentioning "13 Days".

I'd never heard of this movie until 10 days ago. After reading "One Minute To Midnight" I now say to them, while hold up my hand with my thumb and index finger touching, "No.

While it didn't take away from the film, I personally thought it wasn't wholly necessary. It is meant to help us have empathy towards the situation. The key takeaway from the entire movie is JFK's desire to avoid a war - which, ultimately, I wish both President and Congress thought that way towards Iraq back in 2003. The pace is pretty fast and the lines are pretty good - and even educational. It is also surprisingly not political - or plain wrong and outrageous like Oliver Stone's JFK (also with Kevin Costner). The film tries to show the hawkish and antagonistic people vs.

But, if you like political history, if you like period films, and if you just like a good film with excellent pacing, this is a great film that can truly be enjoyed again and again. If you do not know that Defcon 5 means peace time and that Defcon 2 or Defcon 1 is mobilize for war, this movie explains that. You end up getting a sense of urgency and of how important and quickly action and decisions need to be taken. The storytelling, however, works. There were some "cheesy" cinematic tricks used to try and tell the story - like switching to black and white before returning to color at certain points of the movie - to try and bring the viewer into the sense that this was a historical film.

This helps us to see things from an "outsider" point of view; that is, we see things inside, but we are not thinking at the level of the President, for instance. JFK and his administration. Yet the film defends those people's point of views as well and at times, shows the sneakiness of JFK and RFK in their own political gaming (intrigue) to keep it balanced and apolitical. The story follows the crisis from the perspective (generally) of special assistant to the president, Kenneth O'Donnell. I saw this film years ago before Iraq War II and was surprised at how well the story was told.

The film tries to paint the historical perspective - which is that at the time, there were many in the US that did NOT like JFK (which most people forget in historical hindsight).

Do not be fooled by propaganda from either side. In 1960 USA placed American middle range nuclear Missiles in Turkey. To answer this, USSR was forced to send Missiles to CUBA. As you can see USSR had just 5% of American nuclear arsenal. USSR - 300 of nuclear warheads.

USA - 6000 of nuclear warheads. 1962. Russians and Americans. Learn real facts of history or you will see how history repeats itself before your eyes. Facts that weren't presented. This movie presents just a half of the truth.

After Cuban crisis, American Missiles from Turkey and soviet Missiles from Cuba were withdrawn.

I'm no Kennedy fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I am now a Roger Donaldson fan, so put that in your piece pipe and smoke it. Check it. Historical and New England accent accuracies aside, this was a fabulous cinematic endeavor. Gripping drama.