cinemajesty Movie Review: "Black Hawk Down" (2001)Declared a "Failed State" by the United Nations in 1992, Somalia remains in civil war conflicting confrontations since 1991, where all involved regimes have a relentless hungry for power of their population, greed towards declining natural resources and famine all cross country ravishing on to this very day in one of most burning grounds on this planet located in Nothern-Eastern part of Africa.Director Ridley Scott takes on this Academy-Award-nominated directorial effort on U.S. military rescue mission intervention to total fall-out situations in nerve-striking modern warfare action sequences with title-given spectacular shot crash sights by also Academy-Award-nominated highly-visceral cinematography by Slawomir Idziak, who makes sure that in concrete-splintering, blood-splashing shots of high-end combat, the characters with an amazingly assembled ensemble cast, including Military-General-portraying war-lord confronting actor Sam Shepard (1943-2017), Eric Bana as solid rock of an honorable sergeant, Josh Hartnett and Tom Hardy performing with faces of hardly-conceivable innocence to their roles, when Colonel McKnight, portrayed by performance-pushing-endeavors Tom Sizemore must bring his men home in a pursued convey under constant fire power alongside all-too-fast cut and gone beats of urban war horror representing supporting efforts by Jason Isaacs, Ewen Bremner, William Fichtner and Ewan McGregor that director Ridley Scott hits his signature marks of war knowing no heroes, but survivors and the remembrance of being as clear as taking care of the man beside you, when it comes to battle in an forfeited war zone disturbance by U.S. government initiatives.Producer Jerry Bruckheimer alongside producing with director Ridley Scott make sure throughout this 135-Minute-editorial by Acdemy-Award-winning editor Pietro Scalia that "Black Hawk Down" even its observation state of capturing the actions of struggling as misguided U.S. American soldiers in a civil war of no prisoners, as to say plain ongoing genocide with hundred of thousands dead, finds respectable and conservative conclusions with emotions of defeat and the will to carry on into a better future.© 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

pniemeyer-47222 I have one problem with "Black Hawk Down", and that is that it spreads itself a bit too thin. There are a LOT of characters in this movie, and while some of them do get fairly deep motivations and backstories, by the end of the film, I still had difficulty telling them apart. So if this review is light on specific character names, I want you to know why. Part of the difficulty of making a movie about a real-life story is figuring out just how accurate you can make it without losing the audience. For the most part, this film succeeds.Ridley Scott is a brilliant technical director and visual stylist. He knows how to stage action that is thrilling without being glamorous (can you imagine what Michael Bay would have done to this material?), and the editing and sound on this film are absolutely spectacular. The film deals with a failed U.S. military raid on a Somalian warlord who was preventing U.N. food shipments from reaching the poor and the needy. The time frame of the film is only a few days (I think), and that lends the whole movie a you-are-there quality that is essential to this kind of storytelling.There are a lot of recognizable faces in this film, but this is not a star-driven movie. Josh Hartnett gives just what is probably his best performance ever as an idealistic young squad leader. Ewan McGregor plays a glorified secretary who gets promoted to a proper foot soldier when the crap hits the fan. Tom Sizemore plays a no-nonsense commander who gradually watches the whole mission fail from a distance. Eric Bana shines as a seasoned soldier who, to some, seems to take almost too much pleasure in his work. Rounding out the cast are plenty of other talented people: Tom Hardy, Jason Isaacs, Ewen Bremner, Sam Shepard, William Fichtner, and more. This is a film that shines in its little moments. One soldier fires his gun too close to another's head, deafening him. Another steals through an occupied house where a mother sits huddled with her children to get away from the fighting on the street. A donkey wanders through dangerous territory, still hitched to a wagon. This is not the deepest war movie I've ever seen, but it makes its points with a relative minimum of speechifying and jingoism. (There are a few of those moments later on, but they feel mostly earned.) It stands up to repeat viewings, too, which is kind of rare for a movie based on real events. There are moments where I wish this film had dug a little deeper under its characters' skin, but then again, it might have sacrificed tension in doing so. And if there's one thing that this movie is, it's gripping. I was not in the least surprised to hear "The Minstrel Boy" over the end credits. That song sums up the movie fairly well.

gilligan1965 EDITED FROM A REVIEW ON 7 FEBRUARY 2016.This is a great movie and a great depiction of what likely happened in Somalia...but, what about the American troops who died for useless reasons? What about their parents and families? Normally, a country invades and conquers another to enrich their own country. The US went to Mogadishu to help people, and, all we got in return was enemy fire and dead American kids!?!?Here...and, in all American Wars, nothing ever enriched the US...it depleted us of American soldiers (fathers; brothers; sons; nephews; etc.) for no reason...it's saddening! In this case...just like in every other American war, especially, Korea; Vietnam; Gulf War 1990; Gulf War 2003;...who cares when the children of the United States have to die for nothing? FOR WHAT? These are USELESS WARS! ALL wars are useless when American children are killed for silly reasons!Why were Americans even in Somalia? I'm quite sure that Master Sergeant (USA) Gary Gordon's family will remember their son, brother, nephew, etc. as a hero who 'posthumously' won the Congressional Medal of Honor, but, for what!?!? Why!?!? He died...and, for what!?!? What gain was this for the United States and this man's family? A great man, like many other great men, died in a silly war...not even a war...a skirmish; a conflict; a fight that means nothing...except to help feed people who needed food, yet, in the end, he died for nothing!The same with SFC(USA) Randy Shughart...his family must also feel the same pride for their child and his posthumous CMH; but, hatred, moreover, for the carelessness his government took in extinguishing his light by this foolish battle.US Government - so stupid...taking advantage of American children's patriotism, loyalty, and, honor, to and for our nation; and, then, squandering them in a useless war like this!?!? I'M ASHAMED OF MY GOVERNMENT!My heart goes out to everyone who lost someone in this silly encounter; and, in any other silly encounters worldwide..LT(SEAL) Michael Murphy; STG2(SEAL) Matthew Axelson; GM2(SEAL) Danny Deitz; and, so many others. God Bless You ALL!MM/USN (1985-1993)

zkonedog While watching "Black Hawk Down", I began comparing it to other war movies/series I have previously watched, such as "Saving Private Ryan", "Band of Brothers", and "Flags of Our Fathers". Though the film impressed me with its gritty realism and intensity, there was just something missing that never really [...] me into the plot...a lack of the overly dramatic.Basically, the movie takes place during the United States Army's attempt to liberate the country of Somolia from dictator Mohamed Farrah Aidid. When the mission begins to stray from its objectives and a Black Hawk military chopper crashes en route, a group of soldiers on the ground are put in extreme harms way in order to rescue their fellow brothers and fully complete the mission objectives.The film succeeds in its ability to portray the type of warfare not uncommon to the Middle Eastern region. Instead of the beach assaults or air raids common of World War II fighting, the "modern" warfare method (at least in the Middle East) includes much more house-to-house, intense personal combat. The intensity of that fighting is aptly portrayed by director Ridley Scott and shows that all fighting in war is brutal...no matter where it takes place.Yet, despite that realistic take on war violence, I actually thought that the movie suffered a bit from the fact that it didn't really try to embellish the story at all with any added drama. Usually this objective approach in a film would be a good thing, but in the case of "Black Hawk" it only adds to make things a bit long and tedious. Scott sticks to the basic details of the military assault, and really never delves into the personal lives of any of the characters or adds any auxiliary drama.Thus, although "Black Hawk Down" is a very gritty, realistic portrayal of modern-day war efforts, to me at least it fell a bit flat dramatically. A little bit of character development or 24-esque drama would have gone a long way towards making it a memorable film experience.