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I took a train home to Detroit over the holidays, and I had the pleasure of riding with a young 18-year-old who had just finished boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Base. He was exceptionally polite and was excited about showing off his new uniform to his high-school sweetheart back home. We started talking about movies (as often happens when people find out what I do), and he exclaimed what a great movie Behind Enemy Lines was. Given that that was my least favorite movie of 2001, I avoided telling him what I thought of it. Instead I asked what he liked about it, and he mentioned the realism of it. Given that Behind Enemy Lines is as realistic as a video game, I decided to change the subject. But after seeing Black Hawk Down last weekend, I wished I had the chance to talk to that young sailor and see what he thought of this one.

Ridley Scott's new movie Black Hawk Down begins with an ominous inscription from Plato: "Only the dead have seen the end of war." It is an apt introduction, for the film wants nothing else but for us to see what war is like. In that, it succeeds.

Black Hawk Down focuses exclusively on one day of war--October 3, 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia. A group of 75 Rangers and 40 Delta soldiers are sent into the heart of enemy territory with the mission of capturing lieutenants of Mohammed Farrah Aidid, a brutal Somali warlord who has used terror and starvation as his weapons and has gone so far as to kill U.N. peacekeepers. The U.S. is hoping to capture Aidid, and this mission is a big step towards that goal.

The film does a nice job of introducing the situation for those of us unfamiliar with recent Somali history. With evocative images and succinct intertitles, the events leading up to October 3 are clearly laid out. We're also introduced to the movie's main characters. There's Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett, Pearl Harbor), who unexpectedly has to take command of a Ranger squad when his commander is sent home; Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore, Saving Private Ryan), the leader of a convoy of Humvees used to transport the prisoners; "Hoot" Gibson (Eric Bana, Chopper), a loner Delta soldier with an uncanny ability to achieve his mission; and Grimes (Ewan McGregor, Phantom Menace), a desk jockey who suddenly gets a chance at real combat.

These and many others are fleshed out with just enough personality to make them interesting (and distinct) but not so much that we forget this is a group of soldiers, men whose skills are, at this moment, much more
important than their individual quirks. The movie also largely avoids any maudlin flashbacks or connections to their lives and loves back home, another wise decision by Scott (Gladiator) and debut screenwriter Ken Nolan.

Once this necessary but brief introduction is completed, it's time for the mission, which encompasses the rest of the film. Four squads (or "chalks," as they're called in the movie) are choppered into the middle of a market
where a Somali meeting is taking place. Their goal is to secure the area, after which the Delta force will enter the building and capture the prisoners. Then a convoy of Humvees will ride in and take the prisoners back to the American base.

On paper, it sounds like an easy plan, and some of the soldiers are a little cavalier, disdaining to take night goggles or extra water, since they expect to be back in less than an hour. The Americans, however, underestimate the sheer number of Aidid's forces, who are ready for some sort of attack. Furthermore, once one of the helicopters is shot down, the mission changes to search and rescue, a situation for which the soldiers are badly outnumbered and unprepared.

One of Black Hawk Down's many strengths is how it makes this elaborate mission look well-conceived, even as it fails. There's no attempt to make the "higher-ups" look foolish or arrogant. The soldiers might be a little
brash (a rookie remarks, "I'm here to kick some ass"), but they're also consummate professionals, able to follow orders meticulously but also react when things turn sour.

In fact, Black Hawk Down is refreshingly free of agendas. Unlike most war movies, there's no attempt to rewrite history or pin blame. There's no love story or psychological father figures. The film doesn't even go out of its way to remind us of the horrors or barbarity of war. Instead, it just shows us what happens in war--how missions are conceived and executed, how those situations invariably change, how men fight and how men die.

Ridley Scott and cinematographer Slawomir Idziak (Proof of Life), along with editor Pietro Scalia (Gladiator), puts the audience in the middle of the action and forces us to experience what the soldiers experience. Most of the shots are point-of-view, as we see what the various characters see. Even the wide shots are from the helicopter pilot's perspective or the general's at the base. The experience is overwhelming. As the bombardment of bullets threaten the characters, the bombardment of visuals and noise "threaten" us. I've never been in war, but I wouldn't be surprised if it felt something like Black Hawk Down.

Furthermore, unlike most war movies which balance the action with scenes of introspection, Black Hawk Down is relentless. Just as the men are constantly confronted by the enemy, there is no respite for the audience, either. Only a couple of misguided conversations about heroism near the film's end distract us from the movie's single-minded occupation with war.

I suspect those conversations are included so that heartthrob Josh Hartnett can wax eloquent. That's too bad, since they distract us from the far superior actors on view, men like Tom Sizemore, who keeps showing up in
these war movies and keeps blowing lesser actors out of the water. Ewan McGregor and William Fichtner (Perfect Storm) give compelling performances, as does Eric Bana. Also, the conversations are superfluous, since the story itself does a fine job of showing us the nature of heroism.

As the U.S. pursues its war against terrorism and as we insert our soldiers into more and more countries around the globe, what we need is a movie that reminds us of what war is like, of what we're sending our soldiers to when we pursue it. Not so that we and our leaders would necessarily flinch and draw back, but so that we understand the gravity of our decisions, so that we realize it's not a video game with joysticks but real life with consequences. Black Hawk Down is that movie. 

J. Robert Parks 1/22/2002

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer is coming off Pearl Harbor, one of the most disappointing movies of 2001, but he returns in 2002 with the infinitely better Black Hawk Down. Perhaps it is his choice of directors. Pearl Harbor was directed by Michael Bay, who seems to love sappy, cliché-riddled love stories and overbearing actors. Black Hawk Down doesn’t try to cram in any love story going instead for two hours of wall-to-wall action with Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, 2001 Best Picture Gladiator) at the helm.

Black Hawk Down bounces between all-out, hyperactive battle scenes and slow-motion images that are intended to be poignant. Some of the slower scenes work: a soldier waves from a helicopter as they are taking off to a small Somali child who has just radioed the warlord to notify him that the Americans are on their way; defying orders, two soldiers attempt to save a downed pilot using a grounded helicopter as their own miniscule Alamo. Others don’t: Sam Shepard’s General William Garrison is reduced to standing in front of television monitors and issuing tensely dramatic statements about the soldiers’ plight.

The only thing that rang false was Ewen Bremner (Pearl Harbor, Trainspotting) as the film’s comic relief. Bremner and another soldier were forgotten by their convoy and mustmake it to a temporary command post. These scenes with the soldiers trading lines that are meant to be funny as they move though strangely deserted streets contrast starkly with the intense, all-out battle scenes unfolding around them.

Many reviews have mentioned the film’s gore, but if you could sit through Saving Private Ryan, you’ll get through Black Hawk Down. Don’t take the kids to this one.

Black Hawk Down does show us that Josh Hartnett is a good actor. He wasn’t at his best in Pearl Harbor thanks to a clunky script, and the fact that the movie’s focus wasn’t on the acting,. However, he stole the show in the under seen O and is the only character in Black Hawk Down  one can identify with.

The other actors seem to blend into a homogenous mass. Much has been made of Eric Bana’s performance as a Delta Forces sharpshooter, but he is given little to do outside of delivering the "point" of the movie in a closing speech. Orlando Bloom, (Legolas in Fellowship of the Ring) is good as an 18-year-old recruit, but is injured as the attack begins and hardly appears after that. Tom Sizemore is his usual steady self, playing almost the same character as he did in Saving Private Ryan. Most of the others, including Ewan McGregor (The Patriot villain Jason Isaacs), are virtually unrecognizable.

Black Hawk Down occasionally falls into cliches, but for the most part is a knock-you-down, blow-you-away portrayal of these horrific two days in Somalia. The only thing that keeps this film from being elevated to Saving Private Ryan quality is the lack of characterization for any of the actors.

John Wilson 1/27/2002

In recent memory, historical war movies are not common occurrences. We usually saw one or two released a year, and each received much critical acclaim, like Saving Private Ryan. But in 2001, the war movies started coming faster: Enemy at the Gates, Pearl Harbor, and Behind Enemy Lines ran the gamut from good to manipulative, emotional sludge to useless. Four war movies are already scheduled for 2002. With so many war movies on their way, there are sure to be more duds, but  Black Hawk Down explodes as an excellent movie in its own right.

Though the point has been made in movies before, Black Hawk Down drives it home that war is an ugly, dangerous thing. Without a doubt, this is the most violent, bloody war movie I have ever seen. At the same time, to know that the story really happened makes the movie all the more compelling. The most memorable quote from the movie for me was from a Somalian: "American soldiers don't have to worry about negotiation, just killing. In Somalia, we negotiate by killing." Such a quote paints the bloody landscape of this epic.

Trae Cadenhead 1/27/2002

Gosh, I still have goose bumps after this film. Television brought international attention to this story in 1993 when the United States was part of a United Nations peace-keeping unit in Somalia. Director Ridley Scott's (Gladiator) film, Black Hawk Down, tells us about this period of time in which U. S. soldiers were under attack in a major city and most of the population were definitely hostile. 

What you can take from Black Hawk Down is an appreciation for soldiers’ loyalty to country. What makes someone enlist for one of the hot areas around the world? Director Scott had a rare use of the genuine Blackhawk helicopters so what you see is authentic. The camera is inside riding with the men and the audience will feel as though they are part of a war zone. This is no video game. 

A Ranger Major who is stationed at Fort Leavenworth was at the screening I attended. He was an extra in the film, one of the men rappelling from a helicopter.  He confirmed that the scenes where soldiers are running with heavy packs easily weighing 50 pounds or more containing medical equipment, guns and ammo were realistic. In combat situations, you can't take a chance on not being prepared. 

Black Hawk Down will probably be considered as one of Ridley Scott's finest films and certainly one of the better military films. The questions remain, though: how far can the United States go in keeping peace around the world? The Ranger’s creed, “I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy” is now also an apt one for the recovery crews at Ground Zero in New York City. Every bone fragment is a part of someone and they won't be left behind. Perhaps the answer these days is, as far as it takes.

Copyright 2002 Marie Asner 1/27/2002