Superficial Shoot-'em-Up

Rating: 6/10 (22 December 2005)

I went to "Black Hawk Down" mostly for the line-up of hunks, and it had even more than the highly advertised ones, including Sam Shepherd as the grizzled general and a bunch of guys who I recognized late in the film, such as Ron Eldard and Jeremy Piven, and some whose names I only recognized in the credits.
Ewan MacGregor was on screen for a few minutes and director Ridley Scott should have yelled "Cut!" when his English accent painfully came through, but as a Brit himself I guess he didn't notice.
Eric Bana kept his Ozzie accent under control after awhile (and I wonder if his character, one of the few memorable ones, was the guy who we are told at the end is now in jail for severe wife abuse or if I'm projecting from his staggeringly violent role in "Chopper".)
But this is no ogle-fest: it's a problem that the guys are completely unrecognizable as I simply couldn't keep anybody straight, especially once they put their helmets on and the shooting started. Couldn't they have bent reality a bit more and given each primary character different, non-buzz-cut hair cuts? Or at least have a few more with their names on their shirts or helmets? "Band of Brothers" was easier to follow than this troupe, like "Thin Red Line" as well.
While many critics have complained about the short shrift given Somalis and overall tactics and strategy, what I thought was even more of a problem was the Army's blithe neglect that these guys are not trained to counter urban guerrilla action. Maybe riot cops would have been better prepared, or maybe that's the future of peacekeeping actions that needs to be prepared for.
And all the laser gizmos can't replace understanding of local politics. There's fleeting reminders when we suddenly see a schoolteacher huddling to protect her students and a father/son attack team.
This is mostly just a shoot-em-up. Lots and lots of shooting. The music choices were mostly good and unbombastic, though some of the old rock 'n' roll choices didn't make sense for today's hip hop Army.
(originally written 1/20/2002)