Exceptional and unemotional observation of the futility of foreign military involvement.

Rating: 9/10 (22 September 2002)

More often than not, Ridley Scott can make exceptional movies - of that there's no doubt. Okay, so occasionally he comes up with a turkey (Legend and Hannibal, anyone?), but, although to date he's only directed 13 feature films, among them are numbered Alien, Blade Runner, Black Rain, Gladiator and now Black Hawk Down. Not a bad strike rate, all things being considered - and more than a few might consider me uncharitable for not also mentioning Someone To Watch Over Me and Thelma & Louise.
Black Hawk Down details a single incident during American military involvement in Somalia in the early 90's, where a small contingent of US soldiers was sent deep into rebel-held territory in Mogadishu, the capital, to capture warlord leaders. The film catalogues this mission from start to finish.
Looking at the acting first, one can only use the word adequate - not that any of the cast does a particularly good or bad job. So, if the acting's not noteworthy, what makes this film exceptional?
Well, it's not about character. The protagonists are stereotypical - Josh Hartnett "stars" - but that's entirely the wrong word - as a young US ranger staff sergeant, Eric Bana produces a noteworthy performance as a war-hardened Delta Force loner, Tom Sizemore gives good value reprising his "Saving Private Ryan" hard as nails soldierly role and Ewan McGregor is nearly anonymous as an office-bound Ranger dragged into the heat of battle. Scott doesn't develop any of these notables as fully rounded characters, primarily because the movie is *not* a character piece. In fact, it's often confusing when following the various fates and fortunes of the separated groups of US soldiers to tell them apart - and I'm more than sure that is intentional.
The "star" of the movie is without a doubt the cinematography. As with Ridley's best, all the stops are pulled out to give you a completely seamless atmosphere of heat, dust, urban chaos, violence and futility - the visuals are simply stunning and engrossing, but in no way beautiful, and nor should they be, given the subject matter.
The action sequences, or more accurately, the continuing long action sequence which comprises three quarters of the movie, is again expertly handled. It has none of the gimmickry of "Three Kings" for example, but is handled in a style much more reminiscent of parts of Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" and maybe moreso the opening sequence of "Saving Private Ryan".
However, this is where the movie outscores its Spielberg WW2 counterpart, and heavily. It's the unemotional observation. Whereas Spielberg seems to need heroes, Scott goes out of his way *not* to judge - at least on the surface. Of course, his audience will go in with a firm preconception of who the good guys are, but to see this movie as US heroics against impossible odds is to miss the point entirely. History has shown us that US involvement in Somalia was a complete waste of time - it changed nothing, got tens of US troops killed and thousands of Somalis - and Ridley Scott is all too aware of this. It's not about right or wrong, it's not about US hi-tech warfare versus guerrilla fanaticism - so aptly highlighted by helicopter gunships on one side counterpointed by Somali machinegun-mounted rusty pickup trucks on the other. It's not about heroism, either. "Heroes" live or die randomly in war - they make no difference at all. The two Delta Force men who volunteer to be dropped at the 2nd crash site kill a lot of Somalis, but get killed themselves in the end, and the pilot (who was the only survivor) gets captured anyway, just as he would have been without their involvement. It's not even about leaving no man behind - yes, the dead are brought back, but they're still dead, and for what?
Black Hawk Down is about the utter futility of war, of the uselessness and the sheer inappropriateness of the world's last superpower getting itself simplistically involved in a far-off situation, where the rules of combat and the motivation of the local inhabitants are completely alien. The most telling moment in the entire movie comes when a Somali militia man is talking to the captured helicopter pilot, and he says:
"Do you think if you get General Aidid, we will simply put down our weapons and adopt American democracy? That the killing will stop? We know this. Without victory, there will be no peace. There will always be killing, see? This is how things are in our world."
Overall, an exceptional movie, and one of Scott's best. Realistic, unemotional, visually brilliant and thought-provoking.