Saving Your Personal Private Ryan.

Rating: 9/10 (11 February 2006)

Black Hawk Down (2001)
Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore, Sam Shepard, William Fichtner, Jason Isaacs, Ewen Bremner, Charlie Hofheimer, Tom Guiry, Ron Eldard, Orlando Bloom.
The whole idea of the film 'Black Hawk Down' could easily have been avoided. It was a war that didn't need to be fought, and a victory that didn't need to be hailed. Only 19 soldiers lost their lives that day, but for the men who were lucky enough to survive, will never forget it.
'Black Hawk Down' is inspired by a true story in October of 1993 about American soldiers who give food to Somalia to prevent starvation. The warlords, led by Mohamed Aidad, take the food away and give it to the soldiers fighting for Somalia. America plans to make a quick attack by eliminating Aidad, but it ends up as a long battle (17 hours) for their lives once the American helicopters are shot down by heavily armed Somalians.
Ridley Scott is a quite talented director. He's given us the amazing 'Blade Runner',the disappointing 'Hannibal', and the thrilling 'Alien'. And now, 'Black Hawk Down' is, in my opinion, his best work. He does a brilliant portrayal of war and the horrors that it resembles.
Though the Somalian war was for not very long at all, it was still very brutal and non-stop. It is visually dazzling and very long. Throughout, we see soldiers helping other soldiers and risking their own lives in order to save others. That is one of the bravest things that anyone could do, and this film shows exactly that.
There was very little conversation going on throughout the fighting. We didn't really get to know the characters very well, but then again, there were many of the soldiers to know, and I think Scott didn't want to make the film overlong by doing so.
Even though we don't get to know the characters very well, director Scott still delivers dramatic and tragic scenes throughout, for both the Americans and Somalians. There is one scene involving an American soldier (Yurek; Thomas Guiry) who is almost shot by a young Somalian boy, who instead shoots his father on accident. The boy hugs his father and tries to help, and Yurek aims his gun away because he can't shoot a young kid.
Many people didn't like this film because of it's overuse of war scenes, little character development, and thought that it was trying to "rip-off" of 'Saving Private Ryan'. The acting was very good from about everyone. Josh Hartnett soars in the lead role, doing much better than the other War film he was in that year (Pearl Harbor, 2001). Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, and Sam Shepard do very well in the supporting roles. This film does remind me of 'Saving Private Ryan', but just with much more combat and a better message. If people thought that 'Private Ryan' was a slap in the face to moviegoers, then 'Black Hawk Down' is like a punch to the gut.
'Black Hawk Down' gives one of the greatest messages about war that I have ever seen. It is everything that 'Pearl Harbor' should have been. If a child were to see this, I recommend for a parent to see it with them. Not because the child may not be mature enough. So the parent can guide the child into not thinking that the war is "cool", but instead describing the horrors of war and explaining to them why it is wrong. War is the biggest fear nowadays, that sometimes may never be confronted. One of the best films of 2001 and quite objectively excellent with it's direction, acting and cinematography. 4.5 stars out of 5.