Black Hawk Down Video

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starring: Josh Hartnett directed by: Ridley Scott

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Average Rating: Rating: - Terror in the streets Only the soldiers who were there really know what happened in Mogadishu on that one eventful day in October 1993. We (everyone else in the world) get a pretty good idea with "Black Hawk Down". The accounts of what happened were horrific. How could a 1-hour operation turn into a 16-hour massacre with 18 U.S. soldiers dead? I've been fascinated with this whole ordeal and have read article after article about what happened. "Black Hawk Down" (in my opinion) is an excellent representation of what probably happened... detail for detail. The first 30-40 minutes are somewhat slow in this movie... the story is being told, the stage is being set... you get to know the main characters a bit. Once the first bullet is fired, it's a 90 minute gripping fight for survival. A small group of soldiers against a city of thousands... where woman and children are not afraid to pick up a gun and waste you... it's downright scary. If you were to choose one word to describe this film, it would be CHAOS. Director Ridley Scott ("Gladiator", "Blade Runner", "Alien") bounces back wonderfully after directing the misrable "Hannibal". Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, and Tom Sizemore do fine jobs as Rangers (Sizemore is quickly becoming a Hollywood war picture star with 3 recent winners under his belt - "Saving Private Ryan", "Pearl Harbor" and now "Black Hawk Down"). Sam Shepard does an admirable job calling the shots as the General. This 144 minute (widescreen) DVD does not come with too many bells & whistles... only thing extra here is a trailer and a behind-the-scenes featurette. Watch for the Somalian 'extra' in this film with the bright red pants... he seems to be on every street running about. Rating: - One of the best war movies ever made! Black Hawk Down starts out with a brief introduction into the U.S. involvement in Somalia, and then takes us on a journey through hell! This movie tells the true story of Task Force Ranger, who were sent to Somalia to put an end to the clan warfare and capture the most powerful warlord in the impoverished African nation. What was supposed to be a routine mission, turned into a fierce 18 hour battle that claimed the lives of 18 American servicemen and resulted in another 73 being wounded. This movie does not "Hollywood" the story at all because it simply did not need to. The story itself was shocking, tragic, and in many senses triumphant. It was an event that very few people in this country knew about at the time. Mark Bowden's book was exceptionally written and the movie follows it extremely well. Be aware...This movie is not for the faint of heart! It depicts the battle in graphic detail and contains scenes of some very gruesome injuries sustained by the men involved. There is one scene where a medic is fighting to save the life of a wounded soldier who has a severed artery in his leg. This is one of the most graphic sequences you will see in a film, so be prepared. Ridley Scott turned in another brilliant job of directing. He successfully puts the audience into the fight and allows us to feel the hopelessness and despair that was felt by these brave men. He tells the story of this battle with exceptional detail and realism. You will be left with a mix of emotions after watching this film, but you will also feel a deep sense of thanks and gratitude for the men and women who are serving our country today. Black Hawk Down is one of the best films in recent years and should not be missed! Rating: - Josh Hartnett is great!!!... Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down" tells the story of a U.S. military raid that went disastrously wrong when optimistic plans ran into unexpected resistance. In Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993, 18 Americans lost their lives, 70 more were wounded, and within days President Bill Clinton pulled out troops that were on a humanitarian mission. By then some 300,000 Somalis had died of starvation, and the U.S. purpose was to help deliver U.N. food shipments. Somali warlords were more interested in protecting their turf than feeding their people--an early warning of the kind of zeal that led to Sept. 11. The movie is single-minded in its purpose. It wants to record as accurately as possible what it was like to be one of the soldiers under fire on that mission. Hour by hour, step by step, it reconstructs the chain of events. The plan was to stage a surprise raid by helicopter-borne troops, joined by ground forces, on a meeting of a warlord's top lieutenants. This was thought to be such a straightforward task that some soldiers left behind their canteens and night-vision gear, expecting to be back at the base in a few hours. It didn't work out that way. What happened was enemy rockets brought down two of the helicopters. The warlord's troops gathered quickly and surrounded the U.S. positions. Roadblocks and poor communications prevented a support convoy from approaching. And a grim firefight became a war of attrition. The Americans gave better than they got, but from any point of view, the U.S. raid was a catastrophe. The movie's implied message is that America on that day lost its resolve to risk American lives in distant and obscure struggles, and that mindset weakened our stance against terrorism. The engagement itself seems to have degenerated into bloody chaos. Ridley Scott's achievement is to render it comprehensible to the audience. We understand, more or less, where the Americans are, and why, and what their situation is. We follow several leading characters, but this is not a star-driven project and doesn't depend on dialogue or personalities. It is about the logistics of that day in October, and how training did help those expert fighters (Army Rangers and Delta Force) to defend themselves as well as possible when all the plans went wrong and they were left hanging out to dry. Scott's visual strategy takes advantage of the presence on that day of aerial spotter planes with infra-red sensors that could detect the movements of the humans below. As the battle unfolds, Shepherd and his fellow officers can follow it on screens, but are powerless to use this information. It is a useful tool for keeping the audience informed. (In my original review, I questioned the possibility of these eye-in-the-sky shots; countless readers told me they were based on fact and are described in Mark Bowden's book about the battle.) His longest day begins with a briefing by Maj. Gen. William F. Garrison (Sam Shepard), who explains how intelligence has discovered the time and location of a meeting by lieutenants of the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. A taxi with a black cross on its roof will park next to the building to guide the airborne troops, who will drop down on ropes, be joined by ground forces, secure the building, and take prisoners. The problem with this plan, as Garrison discovers in steadily more discouraging feedback, is that the opposition is better armed, better positioned, and able to call on quick reinforcements. We follow several stories. A man falls from a helicopter and is injured when he misses his descent rope. A pilot is taken prisoner. Desperate skirmishes unfold in streets and rubble as darkness falls. The Americans are short on ammo and water, facing enemies not particularly shy about exposing themselves to danger. "Black Hawk Down" doesn't have heroic foreground figures like most war movies. The leading characters are played by stars who will be familiar to frequent moviegoers but may be hard to tell apart for others. They include Josh Hartnett, much more convincing here than in "Pearl Harbor," as a staff sergeant in command of one of the raiding teams; Ewan McGregor as a Ranger specialist whose specialties are paperwork and coffee-making until he is pressed into service; Tom Sizemore as a veteran who provides steady counsel for younger troops, and William Fichtner as a fighter who seems to have internalized every shred of training, and embodies it instinctively. The cinematography by Slawomir Idziak avoids the bright colors of upbeat combat movies, and its drab, dusty tones gradually drain of light as night falls. The later scenes of the movie feel chilly and forlorn; the surrounded troops are alone and endangered in the night. The screenplay by Ken Nolan and Steve Zaillian, working from a book by Mark Bowden, understands the material and tells it so clearly and efficiently that we are involved not only in the experience of the day but also in its strategies and unfolding realities. Films like this are more useful than gung-ho capers like "Behind Enemy Lines." They help audiences understand and sympathize with the actual experiences of combat troops, instead of trivializing them into entertainments. Although the American mission in Somalia was humanitarian, the movie avoids speechmaking and sloganeering, and at one point, discussing why soldiers risk their lives in situations like this, a veteran says, "It's about the men next to you. That's all it is."

Black Hawk Down Video

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