Donald Trump is offering Iowans free tickets to the new Benghazi movie 13 Hours


Donald Trump has rented out an Iowa movie theater in order to give out free tickets to the new Michael Bay film, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, The Des Moines Register reports. Despite mixed reviews —13 Hours currently holds a middling 57 percent on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes — Bay's film is seen by the anti-Hillary Clinton crowd as an evisceration of the former secretary of state's decisions in 2012.
"Mr. Trump would like all Americans to know the truth about what happened at Benghazi... The theater is paid for. The tickets are paid for. You just have to RSVP," Trump's Iowa co-chair Tana Goertz said Thursday.
The Des Moines Register describes 13 hours as "depict[ing] the terrorist raid on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi" but that it "reportedly makes no mention of Clinton... but has again raised the topic of the Democratic presidential candidate's role in the tragedy."
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In its 1-star review of the film, The Guardian called 13 Hours "Michael Bay play[ing] politico for the Fox News crowd."
"Michael Bay's bloody bonanza about the 2012 U.S. compound attack is atrocious, shrewdly timed for the presidential race, and so scornful of foreign intervention it could be pacifist," the review reads.
The New York Times didn't mince words: "Clarity isn't the objective."
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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