Fire in the hole! (Black Hawk Down (2 DVDs))

Member Name: Kepler

Product:	Black Hawk Down (2 DVDs)
Date:	02/03/04 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Detailed battle scenes, Plenty of action, Fast pace

Disadvantages: Not for the faint hearted, Loads of blood and gore

Black Hawk down is a film from the acclaimed director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Hannibal) and the renowned producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Con Air, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor). The film is based on actual events that befell a group of elite American soldiers in Somalia during the civil war that raged through the early nineties. The battle of Mogadishu was remembered as the longest single ground assault that American troops had been involved in since the Vietnam War. What started out as a sixty minute search and capture mission turned into a fifteen hour battle with the entire city coming down on the American troops. The battle resulted in the death of 18 American soldiers and hundreds of Somalian rebels and civilians, as well as the loss of two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

On the 3rd of October 1993 a group of elite American Delta Force soldiers are given orders to infiltrate a building within the Somalian capital Mogadishu and capture two top lieutenants of the infamous warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. Adid the most powerful of the many warlords operating throughout Somalia rules the capital, Mogadishu. Around the building four groups of American Rangers are dropped in by helicopter to secure the building and maintain a safe perimeter for the extraction of the prisoners. When the Rangers arrive however, they find that they are under extremely heavy fire and things start to go wrong when Private Todd Blackburn (Orlando Bloom) falls from a helicopter whilst trying to descend to the ground under heavy fire.

When a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter is taken down by a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) the whole mission is thrown into disarray, instead of withdrawing from the scene of the battle the American troops try to fight their way across the city to get to the wrecked helicopter before the entire city descends on the site. When a second Black Hawk is downed, what ensues is a relentless battle in which the American troops find themselves under siege and the odds st
acked against them.

The main events of the film revolve around Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett), who is taking control of his chalk (a group of soldiers assigned to a helicopter) for the first time but there are also a few sub-plots, which help to bulk out the main action. One follows the fortunes of Lt. McKnight who has the job of leading a group of humvees out of the city and another follows the crew of the downed helicopters. Before I go into more detail I will say that this is definitely not a film for the faint hearted. The battle scenes strive to be as accurate as possible and there is plenty of blood and gore on show. If you have seen it, imagine the first half an hour of Saving Private Ryan and then try to picture that stretched across an entire film and you will have some idea of the carnage on display in this film. The action proceeds at an unfaltering pace and from the moment the soldiers are dropped into the city the action is relentless. Bullets fly and buildings crumble as the desperate soldiers struggle to stay alive under the intense bombardment of RPG and machine gun fire. Rebel soldiers cruise the city in machine gun wielding trucks/cars and rebels toting rocket propelled grenades pose a constant threat to the hovering helicopters and stranded troops.

The performances in this film are excellent, as was to be expected from a cast of many competent actors rather than the one star and many unknowns that we are often presented with. Josh Hartnett gives a superb performance as the unsure Staff Sergeant taking charge of his men for the first time and Ewan McGregor is excellent as the pen pusher come war hero, Sgt. Danny Grimes, who revels in the carnage around him. There are also good performances from Tom Sizemore as Lt. Mcknight, the young but wise soldier who leads the convoy trying to escape the city and Jason Isaacs as the indomitable Capt. Steele. Rather than focussing on characterisation, the development of emotional fee
ling for our key cast comes from our appreciation of their feeling of helplessness and their desire to stay alive in the face of much hostility. We barely get to know anything about our heroes and in my opinion the film doesn?t suffer for this. Too often are we treated to extended introductions to films simply to find some bloated motive or underlying factor behind a certain person?s actions. Black Hawk Down ignores all this and presents itself as it should do, a war film pure and simple which depicts the action in a way that captures and holds our attention.

Black Hawk Down will appeal to all fans of war movies and to those looking for a film that you can just put on, sit back and enjoy. This film won two Oscars in 2002 for best editing and best sound and I can certainly back up the best sound accolade. If you have a set of surround sound speakers then you will find no finer film than Black Hawk Down to grace them with. You will find yourself ducking down on your sofa as the bullets fly past your ears and buildings literally fall apart around you, definitely not an experience to be missed if you have the opportunity.

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