The definitive modern war movie has aged extremely well.

Rating: 8/10 (10 February 2020)

The definitive modern war movie has aged extremely well. HDR pulls all of the spectrum out of slawomir idziak's cinematography and instead of a disgusting artificial acid wash it's a lush, sun-bleached, bloom-filled, greasy picture with deep blacks and beauty in every frame.
The cast is a Who's who. It has a brilliant spring-coiled tension and pacing, even when they're doing nothing and hanging out, there's a palpable enjoyment to just sitting with these characters in their busy space and learning who they are. The characters end up painted with broad strokes and then nuanced cleverly, perfect for this kind of movie.
The film wizzes by, its Brutal, Uncompromising and still surprising. And in 4K it's absolutely superb. It's like watching it for the first time as if it was made this year. Someone's review I read said that Black Hawk Down was asurvival horror and that's totally true, as I put it on, I remembered the horrific bits; the artery, the fall from the chopper, the pilot's sad face, the guy being shot on the .50 cal. However, as it unfolded, I had forgotten how funny it was and how messy without sacrificing coherence.
Black Hawk Down, The film that spawned a thousand video games and gave us a vision of early Modern warfare, of a small war before social media and drones. Black Hawk Down is a sensitive rescue mission with Ridley Scott still firing on all cylinders and giving us another unique vision.