LOS ANGELES — “We got nobody backing us up here. Nothing.”

If things go by the script, that line will soon be spoken by the actor John Krasinski in Michael Bay’s movie version of the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

But Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was secretary of state when the United States ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed in the assault, may be the one feeling exposed.

Set for release by Paramount Pictures on Jan. 15, Mr. Bay’s film — called “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” — will land just two weeks before party caucuses in Iowa. For audiences across the country, it recalls the most controversial episode of Mrs. Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, and one her campaign aides have been trying to put behind them, just before the most critical contest in the Democratic presidential contest.

An unabashed action movie, “13 Hours” will focus on the heroics of real-life Central Intelligence Agency security contractors who defied orders, and two of whom died, in an attempt to defend a State Department compound and nearby C.I.A. annex in Benghazi.