Loved the film

Rating: 9/10 (2 February 2002)

You might have heard this film being described as "the first 20
minutes of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN extended to a two hour plus
film" and I want you to strike that from the record. This is not to be
treated as a Steven Spielberg conquest. Yes, the man terrified us
into ever going in the water again, made us laugh at the Nazis,
cried for the Jews and brought dinosaurs to life but BLACK HAWK
DOWN was directed by the man who proved to us that in space no
one can hear you scream, had virtually every male on the planet
pounding their chest while yelling, "Maximus" and almost
single-handedly created the visual style not only for a cyberpunk
world but in doing so defined how science-fiction films would look
for the next 15 years until the Wachowski brothers one-upped him
in '99. This is Ridley Scott creating one intense war film. This is
NOT the first 20 minutes of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, this is the first
20 minutes of GLADIATOR extended only with the Germanic
Barbarians sporting AKs and the Romans in this film are led by an
ex-heroin addict turned Jedi.
In GLADIATOR, and then in HANNIBAL, Scott has been able to
successfully place the camera in the middle of the action allowing
the viewer to become a participant awashed in dirt, dust and
blood. The camerawork transitions between floating as elegant as
a Black Hawk to tumbling in the streets of a red hot Somalian
market. Bullets sing by you. The dull thump of exploding RPGs
reverberate inside you. War is hell and you just paid $8 to witness
it. Scott doesn't disappoint.
Aside from the incredible camerawork and F/X there is an actual
story present. The Americans are not shown as this invincible
fighting machine acting on the whims of a corporation nor are all
Somalians shown as gun-toting warmongers. In fact, despite any
bad press this film has received from Somalian-Americans, I defy
those people to watch this film again, if they even bothered to in
the first place. Somalia is portrayed as a starving country whose
people are willing to do anything for a slice of bread. Parents love
their children and watch them as they run in the streets playing.
But this is a war film. There are good guys and bad guys and
sometimes the lines are not always clear on who belongs to what
team. American policy and American authority is questioned and
the only thing that matters is if these troops can make it to the
convoy safely or not. That and the fact that Somalians are terrible
shots.
I remember this time in history. I was in college and I believe this
day-long skirmish ended up being a footnote on the news. After all,
I'm sure there were more important events happening that day like
reporting on why miniature golf attendance was down that
summer.
Ridley Scott took a moment in time, a drastic, hellish,
insurmountable moment and expanded on it showing bravery,
camaraderie and patriotism. Two hours into the film I noticed I was
still holding my breath.
I'm looking forward to reading this book.