Above average camera work, sub par plot

Rating: 4/10 (2 March 2005)

Before I begin this review I must note one aspect of reviewing a movie based on a real-life tragedy. In this world of ours it has become almost taboo to say that a real life story of loss or tragedy is bad because it makes us seem insensitive and uncaring towards the characters in the story. Therefore I must ask that you look beyond the fact that I criticize this film and note that I only criticize that which can be changed by the direction, writing, or acting of such a story. In now way am I detracting any honor or praise from the brave actions taken by the US Rangers in Mogadishu on that fateful October day. Now, with no further ado, my review.
Black Hawk Down portrays the gruesome, true story, about a US Ranger raid on the Somalian capital of Mogadishu gone horribly wrong. After a Black Hawk helicopter is shot down by rebel forces (hence the title of the film) all hell seems to break loose as a simple, 30 minute, capture mission turns into a rescue mission. Even though the helicopter is shot down only a few blocks away the Rangers must fight their way through a couple thousand Somalian rebels all well armed, yet poorly trained in a guerrilla warfare battlefield. As night falls the battle rages on and the Ranger creed of "no man gets left behind" is tried heavily throughout the fighting.
It is easy to note that the cinematography by director Ridley Scott is commendable as he attempts to capture the true horror of battle, a la Steven Spielberg with Saving Private Ryan or Kubrick with Full Metal Jacket, etc etc. There is however one fundamental difference between Black Hawk Down and other premier "war movies", and that is the absolute and total lack of dialogue or character development throughout this movie. It has been mentioned in previous reviews that this was Scott's intention so as to make the Rangers seem similar and almost uniform, yet it becomes easy to lose all sense of location, time, and the development of the story. With no tangible way of noting where each group of soldiers is headed, or even where they are, viewers are left lost until the final scenes when the whole platoon is finally reunited. It is fair to note that as far as I know Ridley Scott remained as true to the real life story as he could, without extensive knowledge of the war in Somalia I really can't fairly comment. Unlike other notable war movies like Full Metal Jacket or Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down makes the unfortunate mistake of NOT focusing on a certain group or a certain soldier, essentially losing the audience, and although we are left with a sense that all of them are heroes it is still insufficient because I am unsure as to what each soldier did, or even where they were throughout the film. When a director focuses on so many different characters it makes it impossible for the audience to relate to anyone of them because they are not around for long enough, we do not see enough of them to make any connection. The few times Scott attempts to make a human connection or appeal to our sensibilities he did it so meagerly that I see it as almost silly and unessential to the general flow of the film. The first example I see of this is when upon leaving for the mission one of the soldiers calls his wife at home and leaves a message. I cannot honestly tell you what the message was or even the soldiers name because as I have said earlier it is inconsequential.
In closing, Black Hawk Down ended up being a noble attempt at telling a very deserving story but its dialogue failed to build the plot and for this reason the viewer is unable to relate as much as he wants to with the lead characters. I would recommend this movie to war buffs for its good use of cinematography and above average camera work, however do not expect me to label this as a good movie, even for a war movie.