Black Hawk Down

Rating:
Summary: INTENSE!!!
Review: This is one of the, if not THE most intense movies I have ever seen! I loved it!
After the movie I was exhausted, literally! It is the best reality based film I have ever seen and one best movies I have seen, period!

Rating:
Summary: FROM AN RPG'S POINT OF VIEW (Really Picky Guy)
Review: I was so much looking forward to getting this movie on DVD so I could see it for the first time--it looked really good and most critics spoke very highly of it. Ironically, while I was in soldering class, we got to watch the History Channel documentary about Black Hawk Down. The day the movie came out on DVD my company got to see it as part of our EO training--and since I'd seen the documentary I knew much better what the film was about.

To be brief, the movie, unfortunately, gives very little background as to how this whole thing started. And once it does start, it doesn't stop. Like most guys, sure, I like action scenes, but when you're sitting there watching guys for about two hours going "I'm up, they see me, I'm down, rat-a-tat-tat" it gets rather boring, whether it's historical or not.

Even worse, though, was the character development. When an American soldier died I was like, "Well, there's goes another one" (since I didn't know their names).

To wrap things up, I'll just say this--the History channel's documentary did everything better.

Leave action to Hollywood. But leave history to the History Channel.

Rating:
Summary: The Real
Review: I picked up a copy of Bowden's book long before it became a movie and I was riveted. When the movie came out, I was shocked that the moviemakers would portray the scenes so realistically. But it worked. One day, I was talking to a fellow worker and I told him about this movie I'd seen about army rangers. He replied that he was in the rangers for six years. When I told him that the movie was about the rangers in Somalia, I was met with a sudden silence. This co-worker told me quietly that he was there on October 3, in the city, wounded and fighting for his life. He described the detail. You want a review of this movie? He told me that he was not going to go see it. Why? Because he was there and this movie is real. Over a hundred American soldiers were sold out by the Clinton administration and eighteen paid the ultimate price. He was bitter. After several viewings of this movie, it truly is five stars and show be mandatory for every American, especially liberals.

Rating:
Summary: Propaganda Posing As Something Glorious
Review: This film is the longest recruitment ad for the Marines I have ever seen. In this modern world of media and warfare, interventions like this are more complex, but they have been oversimplified to side with U.S. objectives. There have been thousands of innocent people killed in other countries (South Africa, Bosnia, China), why do you think America singled out Somalia for assistance?...

If you really want to see a good movie about the complexities of modern warfare where tragedies ensue when people try to give assistance, see "No Man's Land" directed by Danis Tanovic. This film shows how affecting military intervention can be from several different perspectives. It does so without the usual big-budget Hollywood treatment, so those of you raised on Go U.S.A. Rambo-style action sequences maybe bored.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Money
Review: This is the worst war movie ever made, that's if you're not a soldier already and buy into this [bad stuff]. Ridley Scott directed this like it was an episode of Miami Vice. Quick cuts, so-so soundtrack and some action scenes do not make a movie good... DON'T BUY INTO THIS MYTHY. Plus take into account this is a story about the worst military exercise in our nations history. The Mogadishu ATTACKS were the worst planned attacks ever. If you want to feel patriotic go buy Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now. These war movies have been made by two of the best directors of our time. Don't waste your money buying Black Hawk Down...

Rating:
Summary: 'A True Story' Takes Away From It
Review: A few years back, Michael Bay released my favorite action movie, 'The Rock'. Now, every now and again I enjoy to sit back and watch as bad guys get shot and things get blown up...it's all just mindless fun. But for the most part, I enjoy a good, solid film, and would probably choose a drama over an action. My favorite movie, action or not, is 'Saving Private Ryan', hands down. It provides action, yes, but historically and introduces you to eight men that you grow to know through the three hours you sit viewing the picture. With 'Black Hawk Down', I was hoping for more of the same. I was wrong.

Yes, if this film did not begin with the words 'Based on an Actual Event', I would say, "Hey, what a great movie!" and would be ranking this much higher on a stricly action scale. However, this really happened. Ridley Scott--whose work I do not enjoy for the most part--took a great story and made it into an action movie. Personally, I would not have minded if he would've taken three or four characters and used the first forty-five minutes to tell us their stories...and then follow them through this horrid battle that takes place later. Instead, he focuses on the entire scene, which, to me, was just overwhelming.

In camoflague and helmets and goggles, I could not tell one man from the other. I could pick out Josh Hartnett--just barely--and Tom Sizemore, but other than that, I kept telling myself, "Care because they're Americans." To some degree this works, but not as it should. By the end of the film, I had forgotten that this really occurred, and had to say, "Wow, that had to be terrible," but by forcing myself to comprehend it all.

'Saving Private Ryan' this film is not. In fact, 'The Rock' would have been given a run for its money by Scott's 'Black Hawk Down'. But the fact that this is not just a mindless action movie but is instead shown as one takes away from the movie as a whole. Watch it...it's worth a viewing, but it was not what I wanted, and unfortunately, it was exactly what I expected.

Rating:
Summary: Review: Black Hawk Down
Review: I thought the movie was awesome. I give it 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!!
Review: This is the most realistic war movie I have seen. Having served with the Army for over 10 years, this one really hit home and the realism of the movie left me speechless. One can only be proud and priviledged to serve with men such as these and to have dedicated men such as these fighting for our country.

The producer/director/actors did a great job of representing all those involved on that fateful day in US military history.

HOOO-AH

Rating:
Summary: I think it was good
Review: I think it was of the best moves of the year. you guys need to make a nother movie like this again.

Rating:
Summary: Now, there's a bad movie
Review: What's the deal with this film? It is so biased and unrealistic. They show one side as suffering heroes and the other as barbarians. It's quite an anoying film. The worst: the only credible character falls into stereotype at the end.

One other thing. The movie plays as a drama, but then you have a soldier preparing gourmet coffee on the middle of the battle and then the 3 soldirs/stooges come in to play with a donkey. At that point is when it becomes a mockery of the actual events, making ridicule of what happened. Quite a difficult movie to stand.