Actions speak louder than words

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2001)

Warning: One comment below may be considered a "spoiler."

The war film genre used to be men acting and talking like real men through Act I; stoically facing battle until some buck private gets killed at the end of Act II; the young man's death gives them the impetus they need to take that hill in Act III. The dead are glorious heroes sadly remembered and the living are sad heroes going home to their girl and mom's apple pie.

Then came Stallone and Norris and endless slow-mo machine gunning and blood splattering. The good guys are the ones that hit their targets, the bad guys don't. Rah-rah.
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was a noble attempt to infuse some of the humanity back into the genre. That first twenty minutes or so left me shaking so badly I could barely see the next two hours or so of manly men doing their duty. But, while we knew the name of that buck private leading our men to heroism, he didn't have a face until the last half of Act II so caring about him was harder. Why should these heroic men we've been following since they landed on that bloody beach die for this faceless Ryan guy?
That's a question nags many, many times during the long course of BLACK HAWK DOWN. Why are soldiers willing to risk death to protect and ultimately retrieve the corpse of a comrade? Well, I now have a slightly better, if still slippery, grasp on the answer. Why? Because. Yeah. That's it... Okay, there's a little more to it than that, but I think it's a personal answer, better discovered on your own, and BLACK HAWK DOWN may be the film to let you do just that.
The first thirty minutes or so of the film sets up a few of the characters. No, there is no deep character development, the brush strokes are light, impressionistic, but it works here. We know that most of them are painfully young, full of bravado and BS, most are in their first tour of duty, and most haven't fired a gun off the practice range. More importantly, we know they've got family and loved ones, they've made friendships within their groups, and they play Scrabble and laugh at stupid jokes. They're very, very human and they are our brothers, sons, husbands and fathers; do we really need to know what personally motivates each and everyone of them? Their actions speak louder than any words they might offer, and that's where Scott gets it right. As with most films in this genre, the dialogue is often too heavy and shop-worn, but the strength of BLACK HAWK DOWN is in the actions and reactions of young men as they are caught up in a situation that goes from... Well, "bad to worse" doesn't begin to describe it. A General tells us that we've just "lost the initiative" and in short order we've arrived at the seventh level of Hell. We don't need to be handed some trite definition of bravery and courage when we can see it and feel it for ourselves on the screen. Thankfully, with the exception of one groaner at the end for the slower audience members, Scott keeps his film sermon free.

The most important thing to remember during the course of this film is that we are watching events that, for the most part, happened. When two "Deltas" insist on being allowed secure and protect a crash site with no known survivors, alone, with no promise of back-up, against an advancing, armed, local mob, remember that they don't do this because some screenwriter thought it sounded good, or some director or producer thought it would amp the scene, we see it because **that's what they did.** Their actions alone are why this film should have been made. That these sweet faced, all too human and all too young men are not only somehow capable, but *willing* to face whatever is thrown at them is what BLACK HAWK DOWN is about, and no matter my personal feelings on war and warriors, I left the theatre with nothing but awe, sorrow and gratitude for them all, wherever they may be tonight.
For those of you who are considering seeing this movie only for a certain actor -- as I did -- I encourage you to go, but you might be disappointed. This is an ensemble film and the action is fairly evenly spread out. Josh Hartnett has a few more lines than anyone else, but I find it patently ridiculous that the PR machine is trying to push any particular actor in the Best and/or Supporting actor for this film. Both Hartnett and Ewan McGregor do well, but are no better than any of the other fine actors in this film. It's obvious that those two are being pushed forward only because they have names the public now recognizes. If they're really looking to hand out a statue for acting here, Tom Sizemore is long overdue for such recognition and he gives a standout performance.