Black Hawk Down

Rating:
Summary: Black Hawk Down....Brilliant but a Down-er
Review: Black Hawk Down

Based on Mark Bowden's 1999 best selling nonfiction book, Black Hawk Down is a gritty, sometimes harrowing account of the bloody firefight between 150 Army Rangers and Delta Force commandos against literally thousands of Somali militia members in the streets of Mogadishu.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer (The Rock, Top Gun) and director Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator), working from an adapted screenplay Ken Nolan, vividly recreate the confusion and violence of modern urban warfare in stark, often very graphic detail rivaled perhaps only by Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. It is, after all, a depiction of what was, until the current conflict in Iraq, the most sustained and bloody firefight in U.S. Army history since the Vietnam War.

Like Bowden's book of the same name, Black Hawk Down focuses on the events of October 3, 1993, when a combined force of Army Rangers and Delta Force operatives were sent into a hostile section of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their mission, to capture two of warlord Mohammad Farah Aidid's top lieutenants in an attempt to weaken Aidid's grip on the war-torn capital.

Whereas the book gives a great deal of information about Somalia's post-1991 civil war, the famine that resulted from the strife between rival clans (of which Aidid's was the most dominant), and the (first) Bush Administration's intervention in the form of Operation Restore Hope, the film does this in graphic shorthand with a series of "cards" summarizing what led to the events of October 3, 1993 and with several fictionalized events which serve to introduce some of the main characters which the movie will follow throughout its 144 minutes of running time.

Obviously, a movie that is based on the experiences of 150 or so soldiers on one side and thousands of Somalis on the other can't tell the entire story in two hours and 24 minutes. Scott and Nolan were forced to use composite characters (Ewan McGregor's "Staff Sergeant Grimes" is one such composite, based in part on Johnny Stebbins, described in Bowden's book as "the [Ranger] company's chief coffee maker.") and several fictional incidents (a horrible depiction of Aidid's militia stealing food from a Red Cross distribution center and the arrest of a "Mr. Atto," whose cinematic purpose is to explain Aidid's motivations to viewers, most of whom have no idea why we were in Somalia in the first place: "This is civil war. This is our war," says Atto to Major General William Garrison, played by Sam Shepard).

The heart of the movie, though, depicts the combined air-ground "take down" of Aidid's two lieutenants and the chain of mishaps that led to the loss of two Black Hawk transport helicopters, the capture of pilot Mike Durant (Ron Eldard of ER fame) and the grueling, often gruesome firefight that killed 1,000 Somalis and 18 U.S. soldiers.

The scope of the movie precludes any real character development. Unlike Spielberg's fictional but intimate war drama, Black Hawk Down basically lays out its characters in broad strokes: Josh Harnett (Pearl Harbor, 40 Days and 40 Nights) is the idealistic Sgt. Eversmann; McGregor (Moulin Rouge, the Star Wars prequels) is the Ranger who has missed combat throughout most of his service and wants to fight; Orlando Bloom's (The Lord of the Rings) eager newcomer who, as in the real fight, becomes the first casualty (he falls from the UH-60 Black Hawk while fast-roping to the street); these are all staples of men-at-war films, even if they are based on real soldiers.

Nevertheless, whether the characters are thinly drawn or not, this film is extremely well done and very respectful of the soldiers who fought, suffered and died during those horrific 18 hours in Mogadishu. Not only does Scott capture the heart of Bowden's excellent book, but - and this is a plus - by getting the assistance and active participation of the actual units involved (those ARE real Army Rangers doing the fast-ropes in the assault sequence, and with the exception of CGI choppers in the two shoot-down scenes, those ARE real Army Black Hawks and Little Birds)the authenticity is therefore assured.

Though the movie (and book) never made this clear, there is circumstantial evidence that Aidid (never seen in the movie, not even in archival footage) was supported by Al-Qaeda advisers. If so, Black Hawk Down documents America's first showdown with Osama Bin-Laden and his followers.

Rating:
Summary: This Is What All Movies Should Be!
Review: This movie blew me away! When I walked into the theatres to see it I expected it to be good, but when I left the theatres I found myself practically in shock!
The direction by Scott was incredible, the acting was amazing, and the over all feel of the movie is more than average!

To be able to see what those people went through will more than likely make you look at your history books a little differently.
At first it doesn't sink in that those characters are real men and the entire movie really did take place. After all we're seeing the faces that we've all seen before in "The Virgin Suicides" and "Moulin Rouge!" But once you remember the reality of the film it gives you a strong feeling of what this story really means. Which is? The complete feeling of war, and the courage they had to "Leave No Man Behind".

One of the many reasons why I loved this movie so much was that it showed the acting abilities of Josh Hartnett. Which are out standing! His performance in this movie and in films like "O", "Pearl Harbor", and "The Faculty" will have you sitting on your sofa thinking to your self "Wow, he's really talented!" People (Especially teen age girls) need to see beyond his appearance and see the actor that he really is.

No matter if you Love or completely despise war films you should still see this movie (At least 5 times!!!) if just for the sake of experiencing the feeling that we probably all did when we watched Black Hawk Down...

Rating:
Summary: Immeasurably powerful
Review: Let's be frank here - if you've read the book(like me), the movie pales in comparison. That being said, the movie, without comparison to the book, is a solid, if not spectacular, piece of filmmaking. The hostile anarchy of Bakara Market is masterfully recreated by Ridley Scott. The cast, from watching the special feature segment on the DVD, actually went through real Ranger and Delta training. That makes for a surprisingly realistic and well-made war movie - not some Hollywood glitzy anti-war ....

The cast, as stated in interviews, felt it their duty to accurately represent the members of Task Force Ranger and Delta Force as well as to honor those who so valiantly gave their lives in Mogadishu. Black Hawk Down tells the story of normal people put in conditions that are anything but normal. They didn't plan on being heroes - but that's exactly what they became - none moreso than Medal of Honor winners Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart, who selflessly gave their lives for their fellow man and their country. It is immeasurably powerful - because it really happened. A great movie to own.

Rating:
Summary: Intense War Action From Begining To End!!
Review: This Movie is one of the best war movies that I've seen. What's so captivating about this movie is the fact that it's non-stop action, and good action. Very realistic and very well done. Presto, Hats off.

Rating:
Summary: Not anywhere as bad as the commercials...
Review: ...which make this look like another one of those, "Gee whiz, aren't we brave and noble Americans GREAT?" propaganda jobs. Instead, as one of the characters says at the end, this is a view of soldiers fighting a war not out of some misguided brainwashed-ideology but for each other---"for the guys next to you." Nice contrast to the current Iraq war propaganda of beating up on Third World countries as a "war on terror" and "fighting for freedom and our way of life" BS.

Ridley Scott has always been a visually superb director, and he brings all the style and vividness of his camera to the action scenes, which are excellent and engrossing. Actually some of the film is reminiscent of his sci-fi classic, "Blade Runner." Overall there's not much character development, zero big-picture historical or political explication. In short, it's a pretty simple buddy-flick, so don't expect any high art here.

The film does beg the question, though: WHY "leave no man behind?" Why do we Americans value single individual lives so darn much? This whole fiasco in Mogadishu would never have occurred if they had simply left the soldier who fell out of the helicopter at the beginning---saving 17 dead Americans and at least 1000 dead Somalis (not to mention all the wounded on both sides). Wouldn't it be more intelligent to train soldiers going into combat to simply accept death/capture as an inescapable fact of war? That's how the Japanese soldiers in WW2 were trained, in the samuri tradition: you view yourself as a dead body already, so you fear nothing and can do anything, without fear or doubt or hesitation. It starts getting ridiculous when some of the Rangers in the film put themselves and others at risk just to retrieve the corpses of a few of their fallen comrades...

3 and 1/2 stars.

Rating:
Summary: GOOD!!!!!!
Review: One of the best war movies I've ever seen.Very graphic but awesome.

Rating:
Summary: awesome!
Review: josh hartnett really does an excellent job in this movie! the special effects are awesome and you really feel the losses that the troops incur. this movie is well worth the money!

Rating:
Summary: Compelling, profound look at modern warfare
Review: Black Hawk Down is an important film to watch in these times of war. It vividly and brutally portrays what war is like in an era of computers, helicopters, far range missiles, and select highly trained soldiers, without ever losing it's touch with the human side of the story or falling back on cliché.

The film often feels like you're watching jazzed up news footage, with shaky news-camera type shot framing; the information always given bluntly through officers and soldiers giving orders. Thus, the profundity is taken from the visual cues, characters, and the chain of events of the story itself. The movie is extremely intense, the action and violence rarely stopping, yet unlike a lot of war films, it never feels gratuitous (shooting-for-the-heck-of-it-with-no-cinematic-reason), and the violence, special effects (crashing, building destruction, explosions) and gore don't look fake and are probably the most realistic fighting scenes I've ever seen. It all just adds to the realism and psuedo-documentary feel of the film. Suprisingly enough, it all helps the storyline as well.

You must pay attention or lose track of the storyline and characters (hint: keep an eye on their helmets, their names are written on the helmet band, and it proves VERY useful in keeping track of the characters). Unlike some war films, the many characters, despite their fairly divided and limited amount of screentime, endear themselves to the viewer, and the actors showcase some excellent acting. This isn't an acting film whatsoever, with very little scope, time, or material for the actors to create memorable characters, but this film seems to overcome that, and the acting is one of the shining points of the film. In one bloody and intense scene (and my favorite scene of the film), a young soldier (who we're inconspicuously acquainted with earlier in the film) is seriously wounded, and the ensuing scene, though intensely bloody and not 'mushy', is also highly emotional. Scott and the actors just let the scene roll scene honestly and let it play out. The film is full of many such scenes, but it never once tries to manipulate your emotions. It is brutally honest and technical, sometimes confusing, but it was the news, is the stories of these men, and will one day be history.

But even more than the freshly conceived look at the human cost of the war and the amazing street fighting sequences, probably the most compelling and exciting aspect of the film is learning about what happened in Mogadishu and seeing how modern wars are fought. I had known almost nothing about it, but the film very clearly lays out what happened, and shows the tactics and dangers that modern soldiers face while going into hostile territory.

This film is an important look at modern life that will be a very important source for people in years to come, to see what modern combat is like. Ironically enough, a year after it was made, the world is seeing, live on the news, what modern war is made of. Hopefully it will shed some perspective on the dangers that our soldiers face on a day to day basis. It also shows how great filmmaker can still take an old subject and make it fresh and new, but most importantly, the film brilliantly shows that through the years human cost, bravery, suffering, and sacrifice hasn't and will not change.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT BIG MOVIE!
Review: ... it was the most realistic and true movie made in the recent decade.I think this is on par with the epic movies like "Lawrence of Arabia","Khartoum" and "Platoon".

Rating:
Summary: To Douglas B Cody of San Francisco
Review: I felt the movie was well done. The action sequences were well played out and realistic. A lot of time obviously went into the authenticity. Mr. Cody, You missed the point! When a "civilian " picks up a gun and starts firing at american soldiers they are not a civilian anymore, they are a combatant. You obviously haven't been in the military! I didn't see any innocent bystanders get killed in the movie! War is ugly and I think this was a pretty accurate account of this particular skirmish.
Hopefully they will come out with another edition with DTS and the history channel's documentary.