Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Excellent film
Amazon saw fit to cut out more than half of my review, which was originally well under their 1,000 word limit. No explanation was offered. Since they won't let me withdraw it, I have replaced it with the explanation you are reading now. Sorry folks.
Rating: - War is Hell: Shown from the eyes of the soldiers
This movie begins with a bit of a history lesson. Somalia's warlords have been warring among each other and have torn the country apart. There is mass starvation but the powerless UN are losing all the food shipments to the warlords, effectively prolonging this conflict. Two lieutenants of warlord Aidid, who controls a large portion of Mogudishu (the capital of Somalia) had been spotted and the US, having been forced on the sidelines by the United Nations, decides to get into the game by nabbing them with the use of Army Rangers, Delta Force, Air Calvary and the Army Humvee convoy. Their goal was simple on paper. The Delta Force (an anti-terrorist squad) would sweep in and storm the hotel Aidid's men were in, The Army Rangers would secure the perimeter, the Air Calvary would provide air cover and the convoy would crash in, take the captured prisioners and haul butt back to the safe zone. The mission was kept hush-hush from the UN and the whole operation was destined to take 30 minutes from start to finish. Of course it went horribly wrong. The US underestimated Aidid's intelligence web and within minutes of their landing, Aidid's militia force had amassed nearly 5,000 soldiers and they descended on the Americans, catching them off guard. A black hawk helicoptor goes down, then another. Following the army motto.."leave no man behind" the 100 or so ground troops struggled to keep the perimeter secure for the humvee convoy, while setting up another perimeter for the downed blackhawks, whose pilots may or may not be alive. This leads to street to street fighting that lasts over 15 hours as the US Army struggles to send in reinforcement as well as seeking the help of the UN, who are infuriated that they were not informed of the operation. The main point of this movie is to show the plot as explained above to the tee. The director is not interested in most of the characters, which is reasonable since the movie is set in Macro terms. If Ridley Scott had to deal with every minute detail, we would of had a 10 hour movie. This movie does have a few characters that are memorable, including main character Master Sargent Eversmann (Josh Hartnett) who is more of an idealist than a blind soldier, John Grimes (Ewan McGregor) the Desk Clerks who makes good coffee, types fast and yearns to be on the battlefield. There is Specialist Shawn Nelson (Ewan Bremner), the Ranger who gets his hearing shot out and provides comic relief and pilot Mike Durant (Tom Eldard) who gropes for the picture of his daughter as hundreds of Somalis surround his blackhawk and begin beating him to death. My two favorite characters were Colonal Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore), playing a no-nonsense convoy commander, who pushes his men and has no time for things like bad directions or bullet wounds to the neck. He is the most "hollywood" of characters and if his toughness which is portrayed on screen has any truth to it, John Wayne would have been proud. The other is Master Sargent Paul Howe (William Fichter) who thinks his leader has poor judgement is willing to risk his life for the larger cause. I do have to admit that there was a little confusion in all the uniforms, dirt and blood, but it was not that hard to follow. The main pluses of the story is way that nothing is hidden and nothing "Hollywood" added to make it more than what is was, which is bizarre coming from Ridley Scott and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. It is a straightfoward story that takes the viewer into a hellish rollercoaster ride with a group of mostly 19~21 year old kids in a part of the world which we would not dare step foot in as tourists, let along risk our life for. With this movie, I do have much more respect for the men and women who serve in our armed forces, they have tasks that regular non-military folk like me could never comprehend. If that was one of the goals of the filmmaker, then this movie completed it's mission with full distinction and honor....Rating: A.
Rating: - Best War Movie Since Saving Private Ryan
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.
|
