Black Hawk Down

Black Hawk Down (2001)

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Eric Bana, William Fichtner, Ewen Bremner, Sam Shepard, Ron Eldard, Jeremy Piven, Jason Isaacs, Johnny Strong, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Orlando Bloom

Writers: Mark Bowden (book), Ken Nolan (screenplay)

Synopsis:
In October 1993, the U.S. Army Rangers and Delta Force stationed in Somolia to help provide humanitarian aid are sent on a raid into the heart of the city of Mogadishu to capture two top Lieutenants of the local warlord. The raid was only supposed to take a half and hour but after one of the Army's Black Hawk helicopters is shot down, the  mission takes a turn for the worse. The movie follows a number of troops on the ground including Sgt. Eversman (Hartnett), Cpl. Grimes (McGregor) and Hoot (Bana) as they not only try to protect the injured trapped in the downed chopper but also try to survive the night as thousands Somali militia try to kill them.

First Impressions:
I saw this movie when in came out in theaters back in 2001. I was in my mid-20s and was already a fan of Ridley Scott after seeing Gladiator the previous year. I remember enjoying the movie a fair deal, which was die partly for my growing fandom of Mr. Scott's work but also my fondness for military history and war movies in general. It's been a few years since I last watched my copy and I'm excited to view with a more critical eye.

** Side Note: While I watched the theatrical version for this review, the DVD copy of the film that I own included commentary with some of the soldiers that were actually present during the battle. It's certainly worth a listen in my opinion.

Story/Direction: 

"Once that first bullet goes past your head, politics and all that shit just goes right out the window."

As I stated above, I'm a big fan of Ridley Scott. In fact, he's probably my all-time favorite director and in my mind, this is one of his more underrated and finest works. It's interesting to see an American war movie directed by and starring a bunch of Brits. Perhaps this is why the film doesn't veer too heavily into statements and symbols of U.S. patriotism (flags, eagles, etc.). The film actually takes great pains (as evidenced by the selected quote above) to ensure the audience knows that for whatever reasons these young men may have joined the military - be they patriotism, family legacy or just a place to get three square meals a day - they are first and foremost trained to look out for and protect one another. Whatever your opinions of the U.S. military are, that's an outlook that is desperately needed more in civilian life.

As for the actual story line itself, Scott keeps the movie going at a brisk pace. Since the movie was made almost a decade after the incident it's based on, the film starts out with some background information about the situation in Somolia before getting into the nitty gritty. One of the things I loved about the movie was how nearly the entire first act was devoted to just getting to know the soldiers a bit, which was a necessity because the cast of this film is huge. We only get to spend a few minutes with each character but in that short time we get to know some important things about the characters. We find out that Hartnett's Sgt. Eversman is an idealist, who due to health issues with his Lieutenant, is leading a chalk (squad) for the first time. We also find out that Cpl. Grimes has been a Ranger for some years but due to his ability to type has been stuck with administrative duties for most of his tour. While these small vignettes serve to tell us about the characters, they also show us the bond shared between these men. These scenes are also important because once the action starts, it really doesn't stop up until the end of the film.

While the majority of the story is told from the perspective of the soldiers involved in the battle, the film often cuts away back to the base where Gen. Garrison (Shepard) and his staff try to coordinate strategy as the circumstances in the battle constantly shift. I found this perspective quite interesting because often in war films the officers are generally portrayed as arrogant, incompetent or generally disliked by the rank and file. In Black Hawk Down, however, the audience can see that the death of each troop weighs heavily on the General. It's a very subtle peek into the burden carried by officers who must often send men to their deaths to accomplish their mission. There is one particular scene late in the movie that underscores this. As Garrision tours a makeshift medical tent where some of the wounded soldiers are being worked on by doctors, a significant amount of blood from one soldier spills on the tarped floor. In a effort to be helpful, the General grabs a cloth and attempts to mop up the blood but really just ends up smearing it across a bigger area. To me, that scene was a very good metaphor for war itself. You can never really clean up the blood, all you can do is just move it somewhere else.

Acting:
This movie definitely has what you would call an ensemble cast. Scott assembled a huge group of very talented actors and I honestly don't think there's a bad performance to be found. Since, there's so many speaking parts in this movie and because they all have to share screen time, it's difficult to pull out a few examples but I'm going to try.

First, I'd like to talk about the great Sam Shepard and his portrayal of General Garrison. Throughout the early part of the film, we see that Garrison, while confident in the eventual success of his mission to Somolia, is frustrated that excessive oversight from politicians in Washington make it difficult to do his job. Later as the battle rages and he is forced to watch the carnage on monitors in the situation room, we see the impact of each soldier's death. I can't say enough about how good a job Shepard did in this roll.

The closest thing this movie has to a protagonist is probably Josh Hartnett's Sgt. Eversman. I've never been a huge fan of Hartnett as I find him usually pretty wooden and generally blah. However, I think he does okay in this film. Eversman is a staff sergeant and he's clearly spent several years int he military but he's not your stereotypical battle-hardened sergeant often found in these films. Hartnett does a pretty good job of showing the uncertainty felt by Eversman as he leads a squad for the first time and the self doubt he faces when one of him men die. Overall, I think it's one of his better performances.

Finally, I'd like to highlight the performance of Tom Sizemore as Lt. Col. McKnight. I was always a fan of Sizemore and its such a shame that issues in his personal life torpedoed what could have been a pretty great career. As McKnight, Sizemore plays an experienced officer who's just about seen it all. As the ranking officer on the ground, McKnight almost serves as a father figure to his troops. There's a great scene near the beginning of the battle where one of his men comments to McKnight that they were being shot at and McKnight calmly responds with "Well, shoot back!" That one exchange pretty much told use everything we needed to know about Col. McKnight.

Visual/Special Effects:
Being a war film, Black Hawk Down certainly has its fair share of practical effects. Scott and his team did their utmost in making the film look like an actual war zone. There's a story I read once, I'm not sure how true it is, that Scott didn't tell the actors exactly where the squibs were going to better simulate a combat environment and honestly, it works. The makeup effects, which are mostly wound effects, are also done very well.

This film looks fantastic as well, which is a weird thing to say about a war film. Scott got his start in production design, so every movie he does just looks terrific and is shot very well. The film is shot mostly outdoors in what supposed to be the Somali capital of Mogadishu and while during the events of the movie, the city was a war-torn wreck, Scott manages to show glimpses that at one  point it was a proper modern city. The streets are lined with both classic African architecture, as well as blown-out high rises and posh hotels. This, combined with the stellar pyrotechnics, really serve to make the audience feel like they're in the middle of a war zone.

Score/Music:
I quite liked the score for this film. I don't often find the scores in many war movies that memorable, which I think maybe due to the fact that filmmakers may intentionally keep them subtle so as not to take away from the action. The music in this film is heard mostly int he quiet moments and it serves to really underscore the desperation and sadness felt by the soldiers as they lose friends in combat. During the more frantic moments, composer Hans Zimmer goes very percussion heavy with the score reminiscent of battle drums that would have been played on the battlefields of old. All in all, I thought the score was very good and definitely one of the highlights of the movie.

Action:
Obviously this movie has a ton of action in it, but it's not exactly cinematic action, if that makes any sense. Rather than appear stylized or choreographed like many films, the action here is more authentic. The action is frenetic and it's often hard to tell what's going on but this is clearly by design as chaos is a well known factor on the battlefield. To add to the authenticity, you can tell that the actors had gone through actual military training as they act and react very much like real soldiers would.

I should also highlight the excellent vehicle work in the film, as well. The movie was made with the blessing of the U.S. Army, which provided the production with use of the authentic military vehicles such as the titular Black Hawk helicopters, Humvees and MH-6 Little Bird helicopters, from the actual unit that participated in the battle of Mogadishu.

Final Verdict:
Black Hawk Down was one of my favorite movies of all time and this viewing has done little to change that opinion. It's a great and intense film with some really great performances and awesome visuals.