Before Jack Ryan, John Krasinski Starred In An Intense Military Movie Streaming For Free

For years, John Krasinski was known as a major sitcom star, leading the ensemble cast of "The Office" for more than a decade. These days, of course, Krasinski is known as an action hero thanks to his titular role in Amazon's "Jack Ryan." But his role as U.S. Marine-turned-CIA desk agent Jack Ryan wasn't Krasinski's first attempt at being a military man on screen. In 2016, he starred in a Michael Bay-directed action movie revolving around one of the decade's biggest political scandals, "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi," now streaming for free on Tubi.

"13 Hours" recounts the harrowing true story of a 2012 attack on a pair of U.S. government buildings in Benghazi from Islamic terrorists that left U.S. officials dead, and created a political firestorm back home. In the wake of the attack, a CIA security team led by Commander Tyrone Woods (James Badge Dale), along with new recruit and former Navy SEAL Jack Silva (Krasinski), is forced to defend the compound and rescue survivors.

Far from a political thriller, "13 Hours" strips away the scandal and focuses solely on the action. Krasinski leaves the confines of an office building and gears up for war, becoming Michael Bay's latest gun-toting hero in a movie The Guardian called a "bloody bonanza." If that sounds like your kind of flick, then you can check it out, free of charge, by firing up Tubi.

According to "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" star John Krasinski, making the Michael Bay movie wasn't just about shooting and performing stunts in full military gear — it was also about getting to know his character, a military man out to protect his countrymen. 

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly in 2018 while promoting the first season of "Jack Ryan," Krasinski described how his time on "13 Hours" influenced his performance on the Amazon series. "That really taught me how to approach [the Jack Ryan] role too, that as much as this is a Hollywood entertainment character, it really is representative of so many incredible men and women who have dedicated their lives to the rest of us and this incredible feeling of pride in our country," he shared.

To further prepare, Krasinski also shadowed a real former CIA agent to learn more about their work. "I was blown away by a lot of things with the CIA — how incredibly diverse the place was and how apolitical," Krasinski continued. "There was no politics being discussed; it was about objectives of protecting people and getting to the truth of the matter." And ultimately, it doesn't matter what side of the political spectrum a viewer is on — anyone can enjoy the thrills of taking down enemies across the globe, fictional or otherwise.