Brutal but incredible

Rating: 8/10 (17 April 2011)

Ridley Scott seems to make really incredible films, then go through a brief dry spell where he just puts out complete crap. Thankfully, Black Hawk Down is not part of one of those dry spells. It is a visceral experience, especially from a visual standpoint. It tells the story of 123 US soldiers in Somalia attempting to capture two top lieutenants of the warlord who has ravaged the country. It is a mission which should only take a few hours with limited shooting and little to no bloodshed. But things begin to go horribly wrong when one of the US helicopters is shot down, hence the film's title, and crash lands in the middle of the city. So begins a brutal rescue mission that results in a staggering amount of casualties on both sides of the battle. And to make matters more harrowing, it is all based on a true story.
This is a very genre driven film, as are most of Scott's films, and Black Hawk Down is drawn out to a very detailed and specific account of a harrowing and bloody conflict in Somalia. There are a lot of characters and a lot happens in the two and a half hours the film spans. The beginning of the film is all a detailed setup of the situation in Somalia and what the US's current involvement in the conflict entails. We then move on to planning the mission, at the same time getting to know each of the many characters, some better than others. Then the troops set out and the last hour and a half of the film is the actual battle, which is practically a nonstop onslaught of violence and action. But it is all very gripping, very real, and very shocking.
Visually this film is just stunning. The majority of the film all occurs on the streets of a poor Somalian town, but the scenery never seems to get boring or repetitive. Everything moves so fast that it will constantly keep your attention. The film has a powerful demeanor and a driving force that never lets up. I was truly worn out by the end of the film as there is hardly any time to catch your breathe. You just have to keep taking in all the brutal action unfolding before your eyes. This really seems to draw you in even further and you really begin to feel as the soldiers do, just wishing the action would let up for a second so you could cool down. But it never does, wearing down the soldiers, as well as the viewer. I don't know how Scott was able to do this, but he really did create a brutally engaging atmosphere with this film.
Perhaps what really draws you into the action is just how detailed and brutal it all is. Scott shoots this film incredibly well, making sure we get to see every gory detail of the fighting, and while he keeps his cinematography fast paced you can still keep up with what is going on during a firefight. It is sort of difficult to keep up with who is wear and who is fighting who at all times, just because there are so many characters. It is always difficult to develop all of your characters fully when there are so many of them. It is especially difficult when your film isn't exactly a character driven film. Black Hawk Down is not. It is a genre and action driven film that also happens to have a lot of characters. Thus you don't get to know all of the characters as well as one would hope, and yet it is still difficult to watch some of the characters die, because even though we, the audience, don't know them well, you get a very moving sense that the other characters know each other very well, still making the incessant death in this film very impacting.
Black Hawk Down is, in one word, intense. It is just a nonstop action experience that lets us see every graphic little detail. There are times when you have to look away because it is just so brutal, but you don't want to stop watching the film just because it is that engaging and that gripping. The only thing that would have made this film better would be a little more time and effort spent on the development of the characters, but other than that this is a fantastic film.