a bit too much

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2007)

ridley Scott, director of the excellent "gladiator" the previous year comes back with black hawk down, a war movie reminiscent of saving private Ryan.
after finishing this movie, i thought it was not bad. Scott has crafted a vision of war unique to his own style but draws from many other sources. this movie, for me, was just too much. it seemed to be one long battle for the entirety of the movie, with no breaks whatsoever. of course, i realize that's probably how it played out in real life, yet i think that if that is the case, why turn it into a movie? the ending especially seemed to have tried to hard to redeem the rest of the movie for its lack of personal sense. those final moments and scenes, where the idea of war and fighting are discussed, and a fallen soldier is given a final goodbye, bring the movie to a good conclusion, yet seem to not fit with the rest of the film.
i also thought as i watched this film how stupid (sorry) the whole movie seemed. they rushed into a dangerous war zone to find a few dead bodies and maybe one or two wounded at risk to the entire squad. why risk the lives of many, maybe hundreds, to save just one or two? sorry, but i really think that it was not worth it for the casualties they sustained in this battle.
this movie, though, unlike saving private Ryan, stops not to examine each character individually. instead, they are revealed briefly in the bookend of the movie- either at the beginning or very end. saving private Ryan, on the other hand, begins with a bang and pulls us into the story, then pulls back and crafts the characters realistically and with time.
all in all, a good film, though. recommendable, yet not one of my personal favorites.
*******/********** (7/10)