"Leave no man behind"

Rating: 10/10 (24 January 2002)

Who would of thought that hack producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, would be associated with one of the greatest motion pictures ever made? Anyone remember "Pearl Harbor", "Armageddon", or "Con Air". True, he does have a talent for bringing fast paced, wonderfully shot action to the screen, but never for a film worth remembering, except for maybe "Enemy of the State".
In "Black Hawk Down", Bruckheimer is at the top of his game with all of the action you can dream of, with choppers mowing down dozens of Somalis with miniguns and rockets, explosions from RPGs left and right, and blood and gore aplenty. But the action, as good as it is, isn't made out to be glorified as it is with his other films. It's almost hard to watch half of the time. If this had been directed by Michael Bay, one of the worst directors ever, this movie would have been nothing more than propaganda, and it would probably would have had a love story, and all of the action would have been glorified, like it was in "Pearl Harbor". But since this was directed by Ridley Scott, you'll find none of that cheesy crap that made "Pearl Harbor" such a bad movie. What you have is a gritty, hardcore war film that presents war in its true state, with all of the horror, chaos, and destruction that is associated with it.
"Black Hawk Down" tells the true story of a failed '93 mission in which 18 Americans were lost, and a 1,000 Somalis were killed during a raid to capture a warlord's top 2 lieutenants in the city of Mogadishu. The mission was supposed to have lasted only 30 minutes, but when 2 of the 4 black hawks were shot down, the raid turned into a rescue mission that lasted 15 hours.

The cast, most of whom have been in previous Bruckheimer films, is top rate. The cast includes Josh Harnett, Tom Sizemore, Ewan Bremner, Eric Bana, Jason Issaccs, Sam Shepard, and William Fichtner. All are excellent, but the biggest standouts are Bana as Sgt. 1st Class Norm Hooten, and Sam Shepard as the distraut General, William Garrison, who watches in disbelief and horror as the mission unfolds from his command center.

Every technical aspect of the film is brilliant. From the sound, to the fast paced editing, it's as though the audience not only sees the battle as it rages on, but are actually thrust into the heart of it with sheer verocity and intensity. Think of the first and last 20 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan", and try to imagine all of the terror and chaos from those 40 minutes for over 2 hours. "Black Hawk Down" rarely lets up.

What the film does lack, however, is character development. We're given the soldiers names, and we pick up on their personalities, but that's about it. But, for this film, it isn't a problem. Even without the development of characters, the emotional connection is still there, and you can't help but to care deeply for these men and what they have to go through.

All in all, Ridley Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer have created a film that not only shows us what war is all about, but also the bond that war creates in the men that are swept up in it. It's an honest, accurate portrayal of an event that will never be forgotten. A+.