A Bridge Too Far - 2001?

Rating: Null/10 (25 October 2002)

This film, more than anything else reminded me of Richard Attenbourgh's, 'A Bridge Too Far.'
Both are adapted from books which follow the experiences of hundreds who were involved and although the numbers depicted in the films were cut down, the scope of both films is simply to broad to promote any deep character development. The casting was also similar, A Bridge Too Far, starred big names such as Gene Hackman, Micheal Caine and Antony Hopkins, as well as a large cast of other notable actors. Similarly 'Black Hawk Down' had Hartlett, Mcgregger and Sizemore as well as it's own large cast of 'he looks familiar' actors.
Both films spared no expense effects wise - it's bang, bang, bang constantly. While the combat sequences are impressive, they don't quite live up to the standards of 'SPR' - somehow Ridley Scott's fixed camera dipiction of a battle scene just doesn't have the same effect as Speilberg's shakey-cam. Unfortunately I was left fairly unmoved by the death of the characters due to their lack of development. Mcgregger's character, Grimes, was obviously meant to provide what little 'comic relief' the film would contain, but came off as a rather annoying and unbelievable figure with a dreadful American accent. The suffering experienced by the ordinary Somali civilians of the city was rarely covered and could have been better depicted.
While visually the film is undoubtably impressive,I will definitly need to see it again to decide whether it has any emotional effect on me a second time around.