Michael Bay is no stranger to explosion-heavy, overdramatic action films, and his latest,“13 Hours,ˮ is his most recent example of cinematic vomit.

The film had long been marketed as the realistic story of what really happened in Benghazi. It’s hard to avoid the obvious political ramifications of such a film existing, especially with a presidential election fast approaching. Yet, even knowing this going in, “13 Hours” felt much less like the propaganda film I expected it to be.

That doesn’t make it less preachy, but it seemed less blame-heavy, and more of a character study of the flat, stereotypical homunculi on the screen. It’s pro-war to an insane degree.

There are even more obvious Bay-isms such as needless explosions, dumb action scenes and dialogue. It doesn’t hold up when judged by typical film quality standards but is admittedly a step up for Michael Bay at the very least. It’s a better story than the latest “Transformers” movie, but still not quite as entertaining as watching hamsters eat carrots on the internet.

The dialogue and character development are insincere and heavy-handed, attempting to rely on the audience’s inherent patriotism and respect for real soldiers to fill the gaps left in the writing. While John Krasinski’s character, Jack Silva, felt the most realized, it was more due to his skill as an actor that made even the most mundane and cookie-cutter dialogue seem well-acted.

Like every Michael Bay film, I left asking myself how he gets to continue to make movies. And then I remembered I bought a ticket. I hate myself.

To watch hamsters eat carrots, search for “Hamster stuffs five carrots in his mouth” on youtube.com.