Review

Rating: 8/10 (16 November 2006)

Black Hawk Down: Good Movie Ian Cook 10/28/06
US Military Forces had been in Somalia outside of Mogadishu for six weeks in October of 1993 in an effort to capture two top officials in the Aideed regime and restore order in the wake of civil war when the events of Black Hawk Down transpired. Black Hawk Down is a film based on a book that takes the viewer through an intimate perspective of the prolonged mission that went awry as a tribute to the Americans that died during the conflict.
The screenplay provides a good and thorough description of the Rangers and the mission from beginning to end, but fails to develop the characters fully. The film does, however, demonstrate incredibly well the comradery between the troops in the grim face of war. The action remains overwhelmingly engaging for the entirety of the movie without unnecessary drama that is common in war-like action movies.
The film also manages to successfully include more political issues surrounding the conflict including general US involvement, the seizing of food distributions, the interaction between the US and UN forces, and the disruption of civilian natives. The faceless acting also demonstrates how strongly the Somalis feel for their cause as many armed and unarmed people emotionally and bravely storm the crash site, or as children run with the exiting Rangers.
The cinematography in itself is quite impressive, but moreover compliments the special effects incredibly with the integration of medium and over the shoulder shots, which provide an intimate interaction with the viewer without losing realism or context of the scene with tight shots. While the opening track is a little distracting and misleading along with the visual portrayal of Somalia, the tonal music beds throughout the movie set the emotion of the scene effectively when necessary. The sound work is also quite well done because it takes a realistic, not emotional, approach to convey most scenes.
In conclusion, Black Hawk Down provides a detailed chronological perspective of the operation as well as some background to the conflict in well managed entertaining manner. Well worth seeing, even to write an essay about.