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"...indeed, an Oscar nomination to Ridley Scott was more than deserved, for an ingenious overall look of the film, which almost looks like a documentary, with its quality, lifelike cinematography and overall style. "

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Black Hawk Down

 (Click Movie Title, to order this film on DVD!)

A Techtite Review

The Film : This is one of those war films that has nothing wrong with it per se, yet still seems a bit short of the "Best Picture," Oscar-contender genre. Its director, Ridley Scott (of Gladiator fame) was indeed nominated for an Academy Award, yet in a typically odd move by the Academy, the film itself wasn't nominated, for Best Picture. I guess this is their way of saying that the directing was superb, though somehow, the film needed something more. Agreed.

Not that this isn't a great war film, with great stars, great visual effects, great sound, and great story. Let me cover the latter first: the story involves the real-life moment when an intended less-than-an-hour mission took around 16 hours to complete, as everything went terribly wrong. In the thick of this worst day in their lives, is Ranger Staff Sergeant Matt Eversmann (John Hartnett), Sgt. Norm Hooten (Eric Bana), Ranger Danny Grimes (Ewan MacGregor), Ranger Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore), and a slew of other soldiers placed in a worst-case scenario, during the American siege of Mogadishu city in Somalia; October, 1993. Get ready for a very gritty, no-holds-barred war film.

This film, not unlike Saving Private Ryan, holds nothing back. However, there are those who would look at that type of WW2 film, and say "Yeah, but that was 50 years ago; these days attacks are much more precise and less brutal." This film, based on 1993 events, paints a truer picture. Much like Ryan, this is no old-fashioned war epic, where explosive fire leaves smoke and no remains of the soldiers, or where bullets have the soldier get a ketchup stain only to have the actor slow his movements a little. This is war as it obviously must be like for real: legs and other appendages fall off their torsos, blood flies everywhere, and in one scene, a soldier tries to clamp an artery, with blood splattering on his face as he inspects the wound. This is war as it truly looks, and indeed, an Oscar nomination to Ridley Scott was more than deserved. His ingenious direction of the film almost resembles a documentary, with its quality, lifelike cinematography and overall style.

Many sources I've heard from have been miffed at one apparent choice here, however: the lack of three-dimensional backgrounds of many characters. Who do you root for, here? The insinuation, I gather, is that this is immaterial; whether these soldiers are college students back home, or doctors or just the average Joe trying to make their way in life, it doesn't matter in war. The exact same bullets effect any type of lifestyle the exact same way. If you were to know that this soldier had a daughter, yet this soldier was an orphan with no wife or attachments; would their deaths be suddenly measured by the number of attendees to their funeral? The truth is, seeing what these people went through, anybody who went through such events is a true hero, regardless of their backgrounds prior to doing so. 

However, as a war film, is this movie perfect? Not exactly. Battle scenes seem as if someone wanted to "one up" the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan with every shot. At times, this attempt to one-up that film, seems a bit over-the-top. Like the scene when a man has lost the whole bottom half of his body, still alive, mumbling something to his comrades to tell his loved ones back home. Indeed, there is anti-tank weaponry which could sever a human body like that, though I doubt they would leave enough of the upper torso to be alive long enough to have a chat with their comrades while slowly dying. On the other hand, was I there? No. So this could all be the way it really happened. It was, after all, based on an actual  book, written by someone recounting what had really happened.

In short, this is certainly a gritty war film for the modern age. Some may not like how it lacks the unlikely-yet-popular victories of a film like Behind Enemy Lines, though in truth, both films have their pluses and minuses. I liked Behind Enemy Lines very much; however, I admired Black Hawn Down even more. It's all a matter of what war movie is more to your personal taste.

The DVD :  Not much to report from the DVD front; very disappointing, given the bonuses possible. Since this is based on an actual news event of 1993, for example, a news report would have been nice. However, the politics that would arise from such a news byte might detract from the film, so I suppose they had their reasons for omitting one.

In short, all that is here is a behind the scenes featurette, and the typical theatrical trailer and "production notes." Sorry; no audio commentary either. It seems like, just as in the film itself, this is a good DVD that could have been far better.

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