I kid you not, the opening titles of this film have Kevin Costner's credit superimposed over the image of a bomb. Okay, it's a bomb blast, but you get the implication. Yes. It's true, Costner hasn't had a bonafide hit movie for eons. "13 Days" returns Costner to what was perhaps his most successful cinematic role, at least one of the most critically acclaimed, "JFK." Costner had already returned to "Bull Durham," "Field of Dreams," and baseball with "For the Love of the Game." He had nowhere left to go. This film is set throughout the Cuban Missile Crisis during JFK's term in office. Again, Costner does not play the president but rather someone whose life revolves around JFK. In "13 Days" he portrays Kenny O'Donnell, JFK's chief political advisor.

Director Roger Donaldson doesn't really seem to now how to do anything new here so he repeats a bunch of tired cinematic cliches. Strangely, he does this in new and awful ways. For example, he pollutes the film with endless scenes of bomb blasts to remind us of the world on a brink we see here. Eventually he reminds us that the sun itself is a giant nuclear bomb yet means morning and hope as well. During the first 20 minutes of the film, he pops up subtitles to tell us who the main characters are as they are introduced. He does this even when characters are verbally introduced or when their names are mentioned during dialogue. Costner has been on screen about ten minutes before his character's name appears. Subtitles also let us know the date throughout the film but unless your a history buff or paid really close attention to the first one shown, you lose track. The date told here becomes meaningless very quickly. You can't remember whether it is the fifth day or the tenth and the date alone does not help. Why doesn't it also say "The Tenth Day" or something? After about 2 hours, though, you do begin to hope that the date shown signifies the thirteenth day and a resolution to the plot. Donaldson also switches between color and black and white film, but only for the first 20 minutes of the movie. He is trying to remind us of the era and of the world view which is the film's time setting. Through this device of film types he is also trying to help the audience time travel back to that era, but succeeds only in distracting us. When Walter Cronkite appears late in the film in black and white and on a TV screen, we suddenly realize that the director has abandoned this cinematic device long ago. It's very trite and typical. Donaldson is the creative genius who has brought us such artistic blockbusters as "Cocktail" and "Species," so all of this is really no surprise.

The film's plot and resolution are fairly well known. There can be no real tension because we all know that the bombs don't drop. So, instead, the film is a history lesson and an insight to what politics were like during the JFK days of Camelot. Although the film does not overtly call attention to it, however, the most interesting aspect of the piece is it's display of communications as they relate to politics during that time. Watching JFK struggle through this crisis, able only to guess at what the Soviets are up to, is like watching an intricate game of chess inside an animal cage. Scenarios are suggested and discussed to their logical conclusion. David Self's script is nothing if not verbose and his endless monologues and discussions about what might happen, how things might play out, become fascinating ideas that crystalize the importance of the process we are witnessing. Young people will learn a lot about the changes that have taken place in world politics and global communications throughout the last 40 years when they see a time when computers, fax, satellites, and the Internet did not exist. Yes, kiddies, they were called teletypes. And Costner had two phones because there was no such thing as call waiting.

Anyway, what does work best in the film is the acting. Costner may generate snickers when he tries a Massachusetts accent, but I found him to be great in this part. The ending of the film, his character's final moments, are particularly poignant and impressive. Without a doubt, Costner breaks no new ground here but he does serve to remind us of how he became a well-respected actor in the first place. And while Bruce Greenwood is wonderful as JFK, it is Steven Culp as RFK who really impresses most here. His younger Kennedy is portrayed as much more reactionary and untempered than history has recorded him. It causes us to speculate on just what kind of president he might have made if he were not eventually assassinated. Most wonderful about this triumvirate of close friends portrayed here is the wit that their familiarity breeds. Costner's O'Donnell has known the famous brothers since school and their comradery and cohesiveness shines here mainly because they are able, like friends, to joke with each other as much as they speak openly with each other. Kennedy's wit is one of the most beloved memories of his character and Greenwood, as well as Costner and Culp, find many moments to make these characters rounded and full-bodied by portraying them as real people, not icons. This is perhaps the most human representation of the Kennedy brothers ever to be brought forth in the cinema.

The second string is equally impressive with Dylan Baker getting a moment to shine late in the film. Baker has much more opportunity than many of his costars to do so and delivers a moment of performance that delineates the static tension the plot generates. It's great to see him getting a chance to shine. Other recognizable faces include Bill Smitrovich, Laurence Luckinbill, Kelly Connell (of TV's "Picket Fences"), and Christopher Lawford, the son of the late Peter Lawford and Pat Kennedy. (That makes him JFK's nephew).

"13 Days" is a history lesson on film. It's truly a fascinating and important part of modern history. Donaldson's direction, editing and pacing makes the story laborious and far more elongated than is necessary. Somehow, despite this, the film succeeds. It is poignant and important. It could have been a masterpiece on the scale of "JFK" in the right hands.

Notes:

Costner is a producer.

Greenwood is Canadian.

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