Black Hawk Down
Bottom Line: Realistic but emotionless and often mindless display of war.
“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” –Plato
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Gabriel Casseus, Hugh Dancy, Josh Hartnett, Kim Coates, Sam Shepard, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner
Ridiculously violent misfire chronicles the First Battle of Mogadishu, on October 3rd and 4th of 1993. Over one hundred well-experienced U.S. soldiers enter Somalia, with an intent to capture Mohammed Farrah Aidid, the self-proclaimed president of the third-world, famine-stricken country. The UN has approximated that this task should take no more than an hour, so the U.S. elites are unprepared for a longer happening–even the 22+ hour mission that this ends up becoming, after they are pitted against armed Somalis.
Sir Ridley Scott has had a number of classic films on his record, so one would think he would be able to direct a better war film than this. I’ll admit, Scott does wonderfully at making BLACK HAWK DOWN a realistic film. This picture is filled with unrestrained, graphic violence, complemented by shaky cinematography and fast-paced action, all in the name of being a film that represents war to the point at which it is both convincing and difficult for the viewer to watch. But after thirty minutes have passed, the plot seems to disappear. All it seems to be for a while is a festival of graphic violence, quick action, and shaky camerawork. Just a little simple reminding of the actual plot would have done a lot. Furthermore, BLACK HAWK is quite similar to what Michael Bay did with PEARL HARBOR, that same year: transforming what could be a thoughtful, saddening war movie, into a mindless, carelessly violent action fest. Not even the musical score makes the slightest leap to making this an emotionally agonizing portrayal of war. I wouldn’t be surprised if those who fought in this mission were offended by the fact that Scott failed to represent any emotion in the events. It’s all a matter of inferring that it was sad, which in and of itself…is sad. No, the acting wasn’t all that great, either. Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, and Josh Hartnett all must have been as bored performing in the film as I was watching it. But do you really need great performances to propel a carnage-happy celebration of ruthless action?
I really enjoyed this one and would go as far to say that it’s one of my favourite Ridley Scott films as well as being a very good modern warfare film. It’s brutally violent and after the first time I saw it, it hit me hard.
Though it’s not for everyone.
Thanks for commenting, Jaina. I find it odd that a film from a such great director, who made it so realistically, failed to move me one bit. I find it offensive when war is turned into action movies like this. It ruins the patriotism by making them look like fun rather than showing the grief and horror. So I can see what your saying, and I’ve heard people who actually love the film death, but I found it to be an ultra-violent mess. I couldn’t even tell you at what point I had officially checked out. Well, I guess I could: it was probably when an important character got shot. In most other war movies, such important characters’ deaths would have time devoted to them, whether the witnessing character’s grief was fictionalized or not. Movies have the power to do that. But that was nowhere here.
I was a bit more taken with this one than you but I agree with all of your points. It’s a fine line between glorifying war and making something realistic yet engaging and the film doesn’t straddle the line very well at times.
http://andywatchesmovies.com/2012/03/06/black-hawk-down/
Reading your review, it seems like you enjoyed this one a lot more than I did. I’m not patriotic enough to fight in a war; I always say I’m patriotic on my own level. Meaning films like these that glorify war–whether or not it was accidental–strike me as somewhat insulting.
I saw this when it came out and have never had any desire to re-watch it. I personally remember feeling like this was a B- on your scale. Your review doesn’t make me want to re-visit it anytime soon.
If you love Call of Duty and other video games that glorify war, feel free to revisit this. Otherwise, I advise skipping it.
While I don’t think this was a great movie (and certainly not as good as it should’ve been considering the talent behind and in front of the camera) I would still say it’s more along the lines of a B+ for me. If I were comparing it to a modern classic like Saving Private Ryan (a movie which manages to maintain the audience’s adrenaline levels without trivializing the horrors of war) I might say B-, but when I watch it what I see is a cinematic version of Call of Duty Modern Warfare. As such, I don’t expect a whole lot of substance and am therefore not very disappointed at the lack of it, and instead simply sit back and let myself be entertained by an above-average war movie.
Anyways I appreciate your interpretation and have enjoyed reading through other of your reviews
I just started up a review blog about a week ago and would love some feedback on it. Here’s the URL if you’re interested. Also, how do you get the list of recommended blogs to show up on the right side of the page? I’m trying to create a recommend list of my own and once I do I’ll definitely include Cinemaniac on it!
Thanks for the great feedback! I’m glad you enjoy my reviews. You mentioned Saving Private Ryan here…still dying to see that one. I’ll eagerly visit and follow your blog, as I am always looking to compile an entire batch of film critics from WordPress into my email.
I love the end of the day, because I know that’s the time when my email is flooded with about 20 film bloggers’ updates. About the sidebar option: what you do is you go to your dashboard, hit the tab that says “links”, add whatever links you want (thanks for the mention of me, by the way), go to the “widgets” tab (it may be under another tab, sorry, I don’t quite have the dashboard memorized 
), and add the “blogroll” widget to your sidebar. Thank you very much for commenting and subscribing; once again, I’ll be right to your blog after I’m done this comment.
Great review, man. I can totally get where you’re coming from, even if I haven’t seen BHD. Glad that you wrote and published this one
Thanks. Like I said in a previous comment, don’t watch this unless you’re a fan of Call of Duty. I’m surprised my parents love video game-esque war movies like this but they abhor war video games like Call of Duty, hehe.
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