IMDB Rating: 7.60, 52537 votes |
Taglines
Action/war drama based on the best-selling book detailing a near-disastrous mission in Somalia on October 3, 1993 where nearly 100 U.S. Army Rangers, commanded by Capt. Mike Steele, were dropped by helicopter deep into the capital city of Mogadishu to capture two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord which lead to a large and drawn-out firefight between the Rangers and hundreds of Somali gunmen which led to the destruction of two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters in Mogadishu, and the heroic efforts by various Rangers to get to them, centering on Sgt. Eversmann, commanding one Ranger unit named Chalk Four, leading Rangers to the first black hawk crash site, to Warrant Officer Durant who was only survivor of the second black hawk crash site and whom was captured, to Col. McKnight who leads a rescue convoy for the Rangers only to get lost within the hostile city, to Sgt. Sanderson desperately trying to get to the first crash site, to Staff Sgt. Yurek who leads two fellow Rangers, Nelson and Twombly to meet with up their squad, Chalk Four, at the first crash site, to many others involved who where either killed or survived.Actors
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18 Comments
Nice action - history thrill ride. Not for the weak of stomach.
Please read the review text.
This was an excellent movie about the incompetance of that rat-faced, pig-headed president and the Clinton administration. If someone hadn’t snitched on them all they had to have done was pick up a drug lord. Instead, most/all of them died! I personally think that Clinton and his administration should be executed for treason!!
No one leaves behind, especially if youre american!
It looks good.
It sounds good.
It’s fast-paced.
It has a set of good brat-pack actors.
It’s an american war-movie.
And with that I mean it’s patriotical and subjectiv. After 11/9 no objective american war-movie will ever be produced so I tried to overlook the hysterical ameirca-masturbation.
But it’s too hard just to take this as a flick.
I am sorry, but this movie could have been really great but Mr Scott is really too much in love with Uncle Sam to make a movie based on facts.
A wonderfully presented pack of lies
Firstly, lets get all the good points of this film out of the way. Black Hawk Down is a great looking movie. It’s well paced, wonderfully filmed and engrossing. It has learnt lessons from Saving Private Ryan on exactly what looks good in a war film and how to grip and hold an audiences attention. You feel every near miss, rock at every blast and cringe at the scenes of crazed, savage locals tearing apart US troops. The film is well acted despite a few dodgy accents and the special effects are expectedly up there in the big league.
However, the lessons from Saving Private Ryan weren’t the only lessons director Ridley Scott learnt. He also learnt important lessons from U-571 on how to make a complete sack of lies and from Three Kings on how to spoil a perfectly good film with a naff, syrupy ending.
Black Hawk Down is typical Hollywood fare in the manner in which it bends and adapts the truth to suit it’s own ends. We are presented with an American army desperate to help the locals but finding a populace unwilling and/or unable to break out of their seemingly unwarranted hatred of Uncle Sam. This is very much America’s view of the events in Somalia;
‘We really wanted to help but in the end we had no other excuse but to blow them away, cus they were all crazy!’
And crazy they are. Ridley Scott seems to abandon all sense of realism and supports this idea of Americans being left no option but to kill civilians by using various provocative images. Muslim mothers whipping machine guns from under there birkas, children ferrying ammunition to some belt fed machine gun being used to blow away harmless American GIs. I’m sure a Somalian would tell you a different story and a UN peace keeper would tell you a very different one again.
Scott had the chance to make a really good film out of this, a film that could show how the pressures of war could lead people to horrible things with little provocation. But instead he chose to give us a roller coaster, pop corn ride. Fine if you’re watching Rambo, infuriating if the film you’re watching is being presented as ‘the truth.’ Post 9/11 America really needs this film; they need reassurance that what they are doing in the world is right. Especially now, as once again the US looks set to lurch into a another humanitarian crisis regarding Iraq. But in my opinion, glossing over the truth and painting a whole new picture doesn’t help anyone in the long run. Scott had the chance to really say something, but he faltered and bit his lip. For me that ruined the whole film.
Brings nothing new to the war genre…just lotsa gore
Violent/realistic portrayal of a battle
Black Hawk Down was a very realistic war movie, although it wasn’t as good as Saving Private Ryan or The Thin Red Line.
Powerful, emotional, raw and gritty, and never to be forgotten.
A raw and gritty depiction of modern war from the acclaimed director of "Gladiator". The must-see of war movies, especially for those who loved "Saving Private Ryan".
Very well portrayed!!!
I am glad to see that they are still doing good war movies and recognizing the heros of our nation. Too bad it has to come at the price of a true story.
dont mess wirth the US
in this great war movie it shows why the US is such a power when it comes to war
not since saving private ryan has there been a war movie like this
if you dont like alot of gore dont see this one but if u like private ryan you have to see this one
Excellent film. Really delivers.
Ridley Scott never ceases to amaze me. In the past year he has helmed a best picture winner, turned what had the potential to be one of the worst films of the year into something semi watchable, and now he has given us a true masterpiece in "Black Hawk Down". As far as recent war films go, this is somewhere between the sheer patriotism of "Saving Private Ryan" and the overly cynical "Three Kings", both of which are great films. "Black Hawk Down" reaches new heights in it’s portrayal of heros but doesn’t overdue it in favor of making America look perfect. The script is not the greatest and relies very little on character development but it captures of the true essence of what happened in Somolia and the chaos that ensued.
The film has strong performances from all involved but it’s really Scott’s show. The man is a master of eye candy but is just gritty enough to make this one work. In a year that was not the best by any stretch of the imagination, "black hawk down" out shines the competition. Don’t be surprised to hear this one mentioned more come Oscar time.
Violent. History Channel version was better.
Tense, fast-moving, involving, realistic…see it!
Great!
Despite what people are saying I found this movie moving and thought-provoking.
it should have been much better.
If you want to see this movie, here is my suggestion, read the article which the movie was based on instead, http://inquirer.philly.com/packages/somalia/, the article is great, much better than the movie. Saving Private Ryan, Das Boot, and Breaker Morant are far superior war movies, rent one of these instead of wasting your time on this superficial, un-moving, hyper-violent movie. And if you like hyper violence, 3000 Miles to Graceland did it much better, see that instead. Only good part of the movie is that you found out two soldiers actually won the medal of honor in Somolia and how they won this award is documented in the movie.
Noisy
this movie was relentless, in it’s fighting scenes. it was, in a sense, a ballet. wonderfully choreographed.
one could see the strategies of the military unfold. the actual "battlegrounds" were visually well defined, so that the viewer got an idea of how the men fought in relation to one another…the screen opened up, allowing one to observe the entire overview of battle. the idea, that once the bullets start to fly, politics be damned, it’s all about the men one is fighting with, was well observed. in my opinion, this movie was intended as a cautionary tale, reminding us that we don’t belong in other peoples’ civil wars. obviously, since 9.11, the marketing has changed…nevertheless, "Black Hawk Down", is destined to be remembered as one of the best, if not the best war movies made!
1st half h14 slow, last 2 hours lots of graphic action, better than peral harber
The best War Movie I’ve Seen! Highly Recommended!
This was the best movie I’ve seen in a long time. I have to admit I was only going to the movie to see Josh Hartnett, but after I watched the movie I was astonished. It was phenomenal. Riley Scott did one of the best directing jobs I have ever seen. As a future director, I would highly recommend this movie for anyone who loves a great directed film. The whole movie took place in about 15 hours, which was nice. It was short and simple. Unlike Pearl Harbor, it did not have a love story, but I think that was essential.
I loved it, but it’s not for everyone.
Trivia question: What’s the difference between an Army Ranger and a Delta Force operator? The answer is at the bottom of this review.
In 1993 a small contingent of elite US soldiers were sent into the middle of hostile terrority to capture some people. What was supposed to be a half hour long mission turned into something like an 18+ hour ordeal. This is the story of the Rangers and Delta Force.
First I should point out that I have several advantages over the average movie goer before going into this picture. I read the book the movie is based on (and yes, the movie quite faithfully reproduces the major important events from the book). I am also a firearms collector and enthusiast and have read quite a bit about modern combat.
The movie starts off with a text narrative about the events leading up to the incident, including background on the militia of Mohammed Farrah Aidid, the subject of the US incursion. The setup of characters and the situation is rather brief, but it cannot be helped. After introducing various characters the movie eventually ends up in the streets of Somalia where the battle begins.
The battle is where people will be polarized one way or another. This movie is not for the squeamish. While not minute by minute as intense as the Normandy landing in Saving Private Ryan, this movie does have approximately 1.5 solid hours of fighting between the US forces and the militia of Mogadishu. People die in gruesome ways and you can expect a lot of blood and human suffering. The details of the deaths of many of the soldiers is shown in painful detail.
When the movie finally slows down to near its end, it does not try to ram some sort of political statement one way or another. It’s not a movie that glorifies war but it does not carry a negative message either. Ultimately it’s a story about the people and the movie is only trying to give you a sense of what it was like to be outnumbered and surrounded.
What the movie does not do, however, is give you a tutorial on the workings of military procedures. Nothing is spoon fed to the audience and in many cases if the average movie goer doesn’t catch on to something, chances are he or she will walk out rather lost as to what exactly happened and why. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because the soldiers in the conflict half the time didn’t know what was going on either. But basically this leaves the average person with just a movie about lots of shooting and killing and many reviewers may only make a note of this fact, which is a shame that they cannot fully enjoy this excellent movie.
In the end I believe this can be a very rewarding experience for those inclined to take at moment and look past the violence. Make no mistake, the violence is center stage in this film, but there is a lot going on and is easily missed if attention isn’t paid. The nuances, however, are very much overshadowed by the killing.
This movie will definitely be in my DVD collection alongside of other Ridley Scott classics (no, not GI Jane). Go see this movie but leave small children at home.
Answer: For the sake of this picture, the difference is simple. Delta Force operators are more highly skilled soldiers than even elite Rangers. Delta is specifically trained for hostage type situations. In the movie, they generally wear black bicycle-type helmets, have longer (instead of butch) hair, and are older in appearance over Rangers (i.e. more experienced).