Black Hawk Down

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Summary: Brilliant for what it is-what it is supposed to be.
Review: For those of you who didn't like this for lack of a plot- to each his own. That, though, I do not believe was supposed to be the purpose for this film. This was based on actual events. That day actually happened. What you saw wasn't a story made up with twists and turns and purpose. What this film was was an experience for us to see what really happens in time of war. When you hear that a pilot got killed in a military exercise overseas, this is what really happens. This is how these people die. The way the press reports it, the whole concept really goes over our heads. The fact that we hear about the military being in Somalia, Afganistan, etc, but are totally disconnected to the experience of these soldiers is the reason this film is so good. It shows us what is going on while we are on our way to work, watching T.V., playing with our kids. It sure brought out my respect and admiration for these Rangers depicted in the film and all U.S. Military Officers everywhere.

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Summary: A decent adaptation of the book...
Review: If you have read the book Black Hawk Down, you will certainly see many similarities with the movie. However, I felt that the movie did not give the same level of immediacy and impending doom as portrayed in the book. Obviously, it is difficult to reduce a day-long event into a two-hour film, but regardless, the movie does not give you the same level of fear that you would receive from reading the book. Either way, I did highly enjoy watching this movie, and it is recommended.

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Summary: i wish i could have just listened to the music
Review: the whole time i watched this movie, i wanted to shut my eyes and just listen to the songs in the background....that is litterally how horrible this movie is. it lacks everything in a good movie but gore and gunfire, which is highly repetitive throughout the movie. the plot is simply too confusing, the characters unidentifiable and dislikable, all is just a mass of frames set together to make a seemingly "good" film, yet i was greatly dissapointed.

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Summary: Unless you own HDTV pass on this DVD
Review: I'm not reviewing the plot or filmography, just the issue that the 95+% of us that don't own HDTV's will have to put up with only seeing this on half the screen while running the risk of burning bands on the upper and lower portion of the screen. Did it have to be this way? No. The folks that made the Harry Potter DVD got it right...offers full screen that's just great. Only by refusing to buy half-arsed DVD's like this, will people that don't have HDTV's get the message across. And to those who are looking to buy HDTV soon...research carefully cause the standards they are a changin'....recent article in Business Week points out it's not ready for prime time.

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Summary: Black Hawk Down
Review: Black Hawk Down

The sacrifices made in war are immeasurable. There are heroes that die fighting for the sake of our nation. "Black Hawk Down" is the latest Hollywood movie to re create a tragic event in the history of America. Based on the book by Mark Bowden, it tells a story so tragic that one cannot forget the consequences of war or it's aftermath. "Black Hawk Down" is a moving tribute to a day in which lives were lost in a mission that was to have been simply a routine capture of a known criminal. However the terror that awaited the soldiers sent on this mission was something that they would never forget. Directed by Ridley Scott ("Alien") "Black Hawk Down" is the chilling look at war that a much bigger film like "Pearl Harbor" should have been. You won't find much sappiness in this picture. A star driven picture, "Black Hawk Down" is an extremely well made movie. The war scenes are spectacular and riveting. You really are glued to the screen. Taken from a true event that happened in 1993 the film dramatizes what happens when a military raid goes disastrously wrong and lives are lost. 18 Americans lost their lives with 70 or more wounded and within days, president Bill Clinton Pulled out the troops. At that time is said that at least 300,000 Somalis had died of starvation. The Somali warlords were interested in protecting their turf and not feeding their people. The film's main purpose is to accurately as possible tell the story as it happened and to whom it happened. The plan seemed simple. The American's would stage a surprise raid by helicopter-borne troops, joined on the ground by forces, meeting a warlord's top lieutenants. Intelligence claimed that they discovered the time and location of a meeting of lieutenants of the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. They hired a taxi with a black cross on the roof and the driver to park next to the building where the meeting will take place. That way they can guide the airborne troops, who will come down on ropes and with the joint effort of ground forces surround the building and take prisoners. Trouble is that the enemy is much better equipped weapons wise and can call on reinforcements quickly also because they are better positioned. The mission was thought to be so straightforward that some troops left behind their canteens and night vision gear. They though they would return to base in mere hours. As we now know it didn't go as they planed. Enemy rockets took down two of the helicopters while the warlord's troops gathered quickly and surrounded the U.S. strongholds. Because of poor conditions and roadblocks a support convoy was prevented from approaching. No matter how much the American's gave the mission was still by all accounts a catastrophe. I wonder did the American's really think they were invincible? To enjoy this movie we have to understand the people and their mission. The crew consists of Eversmann (Josh Hartnett, "Pearl Harbor") a staff sergeant in charge of one of the raids. He does a much better job here than he did in "Pearl Harbor". Grimes Ewan McGregor ("Moulin Rouge") is a ranger specialist who possesses great coffee making skills. Sanderson (William Fichtner, "Switch Back") is the rebellious soldier who is trying to do what he thinks is right. Garrison (Sam Shepard, "Country") is the General running the ill-fated mission. The movie is not interested in who the big stars are but rather showcasing the people as the soldiers fighting for a cause that some understand or think is justified. Some say that thanks to the training they went through the soldiers were able to defend themselves when they were left hi and dry. It is been said that this episode showed the American's weakened resolve towards terrorism, which was a precursor to the tragic events of September 11. Whether or not that is true I cannot say, but I can say that this movie is a riveting reminder of a day that no one will forget. Review: **** out of five

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Summary: black hawk down
Review: this movie is a perfect display of war. war is confusing, does not have an easy to understand story line. sorry all you criticts that did not like this movie go watch "citizen cain" again.

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Summary: One of the Best War Movies of Our Time
Review: This film was definately one of the best war movies I've seen in a long time, being the reason I decided to purchase it on DVD. The cast contains many highly respected actors and if this isn't enough for you, the film it's self kicks ass. I recommend you pick a copy up today.

Rating:
Summary: What's War Good For? A Hollywood Blockbuster, I guess
Review: Black Hawk Down is a terrific, bullet-by-bullet account of the events in Somalia in 1993. To that extent, it is faithful to the original source material by Mark Bowden. Reading the book and watching the movie, I was reminded of reading 'The Iliad' when I was a teenager. Like Black Hawk Down, The Iliad is basically a chronicle of the deaths of the men fighting in a war.

Where the film departs the book is in providing any kind of context, meaning or understanding of the two-day firefight in Mogadishu. We are treated to realistic set pieces depicting the nature of modern war, but denied any hope of appreciating the motivations behind the mob who set upon the U.S. soldiers that day. This attitude of ignorance towards the enemy is in tune with the times. After September 11th, the Bush Administration also rejected any attempt to understand the terrorists responsible, as if knowing your enemy was somehow tantamount to sympathizing with them. I guess none of these men have ever read Sun Tzu, whose 'Art of War,' makes the point that understanding your enemy is the key to defeating him.

The "Skinnies" in Bowden's book had brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. Many of them had been killed by in-fighting between the warring clans or sometimes, by American ordinance. Bowden's book does not moralize about who's right and who's wrong. These questions have no place in the real world of war. The book merely tells the story of two opposing sides forced into a violent encounter heated by years of war and months of U.S. meddling in the region. The Somalis were tired of being roughed up and pushed around and the U.S. Rangers and D-Boys flown into Mogadishu that day caught the rough end of their frustrations as they attempted to defend their homes and country, not a warlord called Aidid.

The U.S. soldiers themselves were not bad men; they were merely symbols of a larger power in the wrong place that day. The futility of the battle and its ultimate meaningless came across loud and clear in the book. In the end, the soldiers' only justification for fighting was to protect and back up the man next to him. In that alone, there is a kind of nobility. The film touches upon this recurring theme in Bowden's book near the end of the movie as one D-Boy explains why he continues to do the job.

Ultimately, with the movie version, I couldn't work out whether war was meant to disgust me (a la 'Private Ryan') or turn me on and get me to a recruiting office. Unfortunately, Jerry Bruckheimer's involvement in the project (Top Gun - a slick recruitment movie for the Airforce), makes me think it may be the latter.

Rating:
Summary: The best film of the decade (so far).
Review: There have been a lot of great movies this decade, but Black Hawk Down towers above the rest with its astounding battle sequences, pinpoint and precise editing, and powerfully honest anti-war stance that rivals the best of what the genre has to offer. In terms of logistics and strategy, no other war film has come close to what Black Hawk Down has accomplished, as it consistently and smoothly cuts back and forth between different situations and how those involved handle it.

Though no one stands out, the cast is excellent, making this a true team effort. Josh Hartnett is good as the idealist soldier who believes in what he's doing, William Fichtner is superb as a courageous fighter, Tom Sizemore reliably comes through as a tough soldier yet again, and Ewen Bremner is convincing as a lost and near-deaf soldier. There are other good performances, from Ewan Mcgregor, Eric Bana, Ron Eldard, Sam Shepard, etc. This is all filmmaking at its best.

Rating:
Summary: Best War Movie Since Saving Private Ryan
Review: Ridley Scott's intense depiction of the 1993 raid of Mogadishu by U.S. Rangers is an absolute masterpiece, giving us the best look at the horrors of ground warfare since "Saving Private Ryan".
In 1993, a vicious Somalian warlord known as Mohammed Farah Aidid is stealing food brought by American relief aid, resulting in a mass famine that claims the lives of at least three hundred thousand Somalis. U.S. Rangers and Delta Force are sent in to capture Aidid. During an October mission to capture Aidid's top assistants that was only supposed to take half an hour, two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down, resulting in a 16-hour battle in which the ground soldiers fought for their lives while defending the downed choppers against thousands of angry Somalis in the city of Mogadishu.
As well as giving us a realistic, graphic look at the movie, which is based on an actual event, "Black Hawk Down" also allows time for delving into the relationships in between the ground soldiers and how those relationships saved lives.
This movie has to be among the ranks of the best war films ever made. And if I was leaving Earth for the rest of my life and I could only take two movies with me, this would be one of them.