Bruckheimer's best movie... but still a Bruckheimer movie...

Rating: 7/10 (18 July 2005)

I think I've always avoided this movie, until now, because it's a Jerry Bruckheimer flick, and there's nothing that guy can't dumb down. I really can't think of another producer who leaves such an indelible mark on a film that it's instantly recognisable as his. What other producer is mentioned as often in the marketing of a film than Bruckheimer, often more times than the director? He's become a brand, attaching his name generally means you're gonna get a certain kind of movie, no matter who's behind the lens (this time out, it's Ridley Scott, who received his third Oscar nomination for his work here). So my question going into the film was could Bruckheimer leave his usual brand of tricks behind for the serious subject matter at hand, or would it look like Armageddon in Somolia, or another Pearl Harbour? Well, it's not Armageddon in Somolia, and I'm assuming Black Hawk Down is better than Pearl Harbour (which I've never seen, and probably never will). But... it's still a Bruckheimer flick. He still has to have his slow motion epic shots, complete with swelling score, that just screams "HEROES. THESE ARE MEN DOING MANLY THINGS AND YOU WILL CHEER". It's that dedication to aestheticism that prevents what is a pretty good movie from becoming a great movie. It's self-reverential in the worst way, and little more than one large battle scene.
It's a pretty impressive battle scene, I'll give you, but it all exists without the proper context or heft that would give it's subject matter the treatment it deserves. The action is furious, the battles feel authentic, the explosions are loud. It's all terribly exciting and engrossing, but empty. Everything that occurs before the battle occurs is tired, clichÃ©d and ordinary. Scott sets up the quirks of the men we will soon see in battle so that we shall care when they are placed in peril. But it feels stunted and obligatory, and not all that different than the montage of characters offered in Armageddon. Particularly weak is the opening of the film, which treats the viewers to six or seven pages of subtitled exposition, explaining the Somolian conflict and what our heroes are doing there (complete with poorly written, ham-handed commentary).
Here's the thing about movies: they're a visual medium. Use one or two pages of subtitles to begin a movie if you must, but this is a bit excessive. A simple rule is show, don't tell. Even a hackneyed device like having the soldiers watching the news or discussing the newspaper would have been preferable. The whole thing feels so much like an afterthought, that I'm convinced it was one. Test audiences were too confused about what Somolia was all about, so they threw that in there instead of re-shooting a sequence.
Bruckheimer can't bear all the blame for the film's short-comings. Ridley Scott is just as prone to sensationalism and aestheticism as is his production partner. As with his recent Kingdom of Heaven, it appears too often that Scott is more interested in setting up a unique and beautiful shot than finding the reasoning behind the sequence. He's all craft with no poetry. As a result, the film looks amazing, the battle is outstanding, but the whole thing leaves me very hollow, and not just because of the "war is hell" theme that always surrounds such films.
While recognising the flaws of Black Hawk Down, I still felt it to be a pretty good movie. And that's because while Scott may be lacking as an artist, he is a master craftsman. The battle is unrelenting and enthralling, and one of the best I've seen for modern combat. While most of the characters are little more than archetypes, I found a few members of the cast really stood out with their performances, particularly Eric Bana as the charismatic Delta Squadron member and Tom Sizemore, who could basically play army guys his whole career and not go wrong.
All in all, despite its many flaws, the superlatives out-weigh them. I enjoyed the flick for what it was, while still wishing the story was put in better hands.