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All Movie Info
Directed By
Ridley Scott
Written By:
Ken Nolan
Cast:
Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Sam Shepard, Gabriel Casseus, Kim Coates, Hugh Dancy, Ron Eldard, Ioan Gruffudd, Tom Guiry, Charlie Hofheimer, Jason Isaacs, Zeljko Ivanek, Glenn Morshower, Jeremy Piven, Brendan Sexton III, Johnny Strong, Richard Tyson, Brian Van Holt, Steven Ford, Gregory Sporleder, Carmine D. Giovinazzo, George Harris, Ewen Bremner, Boyd Kestner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Ian Virgo, Thomas Hardy, Tac Fitzgerald, Matthew Marsden, Orlando Bloom, Enrique Murciano, Michael Roof, Treva Etienne, Ty Burrell, Danny Hoch, Chris Beetem, Kent Linville
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Black Hawk Down (2001)
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Movie Review by Jarrod 
July 1st, 2008
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Ridley Scott's 'Black Hawk Down' is one of the greatest of modern war films; its battle sequences are ugly, brutal, and intense, with an gritty, in-your-face sense of realism, after about an initial hour or so of set-up, the viewer is subjected to a relentless onslaught of carnage and death, as American troops battle Somali militants on the streets of Mogadishu; the Americans have prepared for a quick operation, but what they get instead in a vicious, day-long campaign against a well-armed and determined militia. The movie is based on a book by Mark Bowden, which chronicles the 1993 relief effort in the Eastern African nation of Somalia, at a time when it was being ravaged by a tribal conflict. The UN has mounted an intervention force, and set up a safe zone north of Mogadishu, and thousands of refugees have fled there, as casualties begin to exceed 300,000. The American army is set to enter Mogadishu in order to capture leading warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid, who is holed up in the Somali capital.
The mission does not go as planned. Scott focuses primarily on Delta Force and Army Ranger units; the latter is under the command of youthful sergeant Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett), who insists that he will not lose any of his men. This post comes to him from his superior, the humorless Captain Steele (Jason Isaacs). A rookie named Blackburn (Orlando Bloom) is eager for action; desk clerk Grimes (Ewan MacGregor) gets promoted to field duty, a bit out of place in the presence of combat veterans like lone wolf Hoot (Eric Bana). Heading the operation is General Garrison (Sam Shepard); lesser officials on the ground include McKnight (Tom Sizemore), who is responsible for the convoy that will escort the wounded back to base. Two Black Hawks will be shot down by rockets, one of them piloted by Wolcott (Jeremy Piven), and the other by Mike Durant (Ron Eldard). Durant is taken hostage, but is later released. Eversmann's squad is pinned down in a building, awaiting rescue. It is the rescue mission that takes much longer than expected; nearly 15 hours have passed before everyone has been extracted. 20 Americans are killed, along with 1000 Somalis. Clinton pulls the soldiers out of Somalia and the disastrous events in Somalia played a major role in the United States' decision not to get involved in Rwanda during the genocide that occurred there a year later. Somalia was the precedent, as Bill Clinton sadly noted when asked about why he did not do anything to stop the mass murder of Tutsis by their Hutu neighbors in 1994.
As the fighting escalates, images emerge that are reminiscent of Stalingrad or Warsaw from WWII, as the city is reduced to rubble, and the opposing factions take cover wherever they can find it, and the situation grows more hopeless and desperate, the Americans at a disadvantage in hostile foreign territory. Some scenes pack an emotional wallop as the Americans watch their friends and comrades suffer ghastly injuries, and neither Scott nor cinematographer Slawomir Idziak spare the audience anything in this regard. The performances are universally strong, though Hartnett stands out from the crowd, simply because he has more screen time than most of the other actors. It is surprising to see so many Brits and Scots among the cast, they all do well concealing their native accents by adopting American ones instead. The most visible ones are Isaacs, MacGregor, and Bana (who is Australian), but joining them are Bloom, Matthew Marsden (as Sizemore), Ewen Bremner (as Nelson), Hugh Dancy (as Schmid), and Ioan Gruffudd (as Beales). 'Black Hawk Down' is devastating and unforgettable, and one of Scott's best; it also illustrates Scott's versatility, and added a hit to his resume to balance out some of his misses, like Legend, the overblown Kingdom of Heaven, and Hannibal.
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