Black Hawk Down

Movie Title: Black Hawk Down

Official Website (it might still work): Black Hawk Down

Rating (out of 10): 10

Buy the: Video/DVD | Soundtrack

The Review:

Violence, death, and chaos. Or just another day in the Third World. However, only when Americans start to die do we tend to give a shit. Black Hawk Down is an example of this. We enter Somalia to try and ease the suffering of millions of drought stricken Africans and then get the hell out of dodge as soon as a few Americans get killed. Now I’m not trying to trivialize the deaths of 18 US soldiers, but 24 Pakistani peacekeepers were killed months before these Army Rangers were killed, and those Pakistanis stayed after the US withdrew the last of its forces. This wasn’t the Army’s fault, it was merely a political issue. Well, enough of my politically charged ranting, and more about this Ridley Scott (Gladiator) directed film that is about a raid gone bad that then turned into a battle for survival for some of the Army’s elite troops.

The film begins in 1993 with the Army Rangers & Delta Force units conducting raids against Somali warlord General Mohamed Farrah Aidid who was wanted by the UN for ambushing and killing those Pakistanis mentioned above. As the US military prepares to capture some of Aidid’s top advisors we begin to meet the important characters of the film. There is Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett from Pearl Harbor & O) who is a bit of an idealist and wants to genuinely help the Skinnies (their term for the starving Somalis). Also there is John Grimes (Ewan McGregor of Moulin Rouge) who has only been an office clerk yearning to go into combat, until he actually gets to. Next is PFC Todd Blackburn who is the fresh off the plane 18-year old boy itching to get into combat. Then there is Sgt. Norm “Hoot” Hooten (Eric Bana), Lt. Colonel McKnight (Tom Sizemore from Red Planet), Sgt. Howe (William Fichtner from Armageddon), Specialist Nelson (Ewen Bremner), Pvt. Wex (Kim Coates), Spec. Kurth (Gabriel Casseus), and many other foot soldiers and their brass. Once we get this brief introduction to these people, the raid begins and then changes to a rescue mission as soon as the Somalis shoot down one of the Black Hawk helicopters providing cover and surveillance for the ground forces. This single event changes the entire nature the battle by putting the Americans on the defensive and leaving them without the element of surprise in their battle against Aidid’s forces (and it is ultimately what causes the US withdrawal). Most of the rest of Black Hawk Down is extremely violent, bloody, and graphic with very realistic war scenes. This is where we really got to see what these American soldiers were made of, and what total lack of fear these Somalis had developed from years of civil war and starvation.

Other people in the film include Sam Shepard (Swordfish), Hugh Dancy, Ron Eldard, Ioan Eldard, Tom Guiry, Danny Hoch, and Charlie Hofheimer. The screenplay was by Ken Nolan who adapted it from a book by Mark Bowden.