Great Film: Black Hawk Down
Accurate and unflinching
Black Hawk Down is an incomparable war flick. Other movies I can recall,
such as COURAGE UNDER FIRE, have a powerful story but fall short of
authenticity. Because of the storyline, which showed a flawed and
scandalous
military hierarchy, the director, Ed Zwick, was not granted the
permission
to use real Army equipment. As you will read in the trivia/goofs section
of
that film, British tanks were loaned to the production company and
dressed
up to look like American M1s. The helicopters used were probably
'Hollywood
arsenal' or rented from the National Guard. Even some of the dialogue and
practices fell short in the realism department. As an US Army vet
(1995-2000), I knew when I watched it theaters in 1996 that certain
usages
of weapons and vehicles were just not real! Yet COURAGE UNDER FIRE was
interesting and legitimate. As for other war movies that TRY to tell a
worthwhile story or give a message, any semblance of military jargon and
practices are shot to hell (the terrible but watchable RAMBO III; the low
quality Mike Dudikoff vehicle PLATOON LEADER), or overcooked (A FEW GOOD
MEN
- "Yes SIR! Roger that SIR!"), or just pure McSilly (BEHIND ENEMY
LINES).
BLACK HAWK DOWN hits the mark in every respect. There are no ultra-formal
or
heroic Jack-Nicholson-from-A-FEW-GOOD-MEN speeches. The UH-60 and AH-6J
helicopters used are the real aircraft loaned from the units involved on
8/3
and 8/4 1993, not slapdash-with-aftermarket fakes.
Detractors of the movie claim it to be a flag-waving, recruitment poster,
special effects-only production. They also whine about how the Somalis
were
shown as non-human, the Americans were interchangable, and that more of
the
events surrounding the real life mission weren't portrayed. Well, those
same
folks either weren't in the service or miss the mark completely! First of
all, note the absence of any top draw stars. There are many established
or
at-the-time up and coming actors, but it thankfully did not distract the
viewer, like the soopy A-list heavy THE THIN RED LINE. Also, the
Americans
aren't shown as invincible or pretty - they are shown getting their asses
handed to them, arguing amongst themselves, and suffering
heavily.
And in regards to them being interchangable, like a few negative reviews
state, hey - everyone does kinda look the same in BDUs! SAVING PRIVATE
RYAN,
a work of fiction (and also a tremendous accomplishment) that had fewer
characters, could afford to give each man a face, a name, and a
connection
to the audience. Ridley Scott dealt with dozens characters pulled from
over
a hundred real figures from the battle, making that impractical.
Also, BLACK HAWK DOWN isn't about Operation 'Restore Hope', which
stretched
over 1993 and 1994. That's why some poorly thought out reviews point out
that the Somali perspective isn't shown or the events leading up the
US/UN
intervention. It is about the 24 hour plus battle of Mogadishu from the
US
perspective. That's all. Otherwise it would have been a monstrous three
hour
production like those ensemble movies from the 1960s and 1970s, like THE
LONGEST DAY and PATTON, both of which cover months of WWII, if not years.
I
haven't seen either one, but I'm a IMDb junkie, so I know!
BLACK HAWK DOWN uses composite events and characters spliced together for
a
watchable movie. Events are made up, yeah, but... Sure, there's the
occasional continuity error. The CGI effects are impressive. Just imagine
if
this had been a Dominic West (CON AIR, THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER) movie, or
filmed by some Gen X shmoe. There would have been bullet-time cuts,
extreme
zooms, and who knows what else? Ridley Scott was the right man for the
job.
BLACK HAWK DOWN is without peer. It tells the story of 24 hours in the
life
of US soldiers in a clear, focused, and honorable manner. What other
true-events film has come close? APOLLO 13 dramatized and created people
and
events for a terrific film. GLORY and SCHINDLER'S LIST did the same,
successfully and honorably taking liberties with actual occurences for
the
sake of movie-dom. PS: check out Mike Durant's new book "In The Company
of
Heroes". Great book. Feel free to contact me with feedback and notes. To
anyone who has served in South Korea in recent years - Manchus lead the
way!
Cast
- Eversmann played by Josh Hartnett
- Nelson played by Ewen Bremner
- Sanderson played by William Fichtner
- Wex played by Kim Coates
- Grimes played by Ewan Mcgregor
- McKnight played by Tom Sizemore
- Hoot played by Eric Bana
