The hectic nature of combat

Rating: 8/10 (24 April 2020)

Black Hawk Down was based on the real incident where an American military raid in Somalia turns into a massive rescue mission. The film was pretty much an extended fire-fight: after 30 minutes setting up the characters and the situation it turned into near non-stop action. For fans of war films it will be a delight with Ridley Scott using a similar approach to Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. The war scenes were frantic and chaotic. Black Hawk Down had an ensemble cast that featured many emerging actors for the time e.g. Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewen McGregor, and Tom Hardy. Because of this, the film was more about the action and the characters surviving the waves of attacks. Although some characters stand out more than others like McGregor's Grimesey who goes out in the field for the first time. The focus on the soldiers and the tactics gave the film the feel of an older like A Bridge Too Far or even Zulu which Scott is a fan of.
Black Hawk Down acts like a template of war films in 2010s, such as Lone Survivor, 13 Hours, and 12 Strong, all films focusing on American soldiers in seemingly impossible situations.