Great Scott!

Rating: Null/10 (13 February 2002)

After the serial killer panto shambles that was Hannibal Ridley Scott returns to form with Black Hawk Down, a visually spectacular if morally redundant 'account' of a botched mission into war torn Somalia. There is a small attempt to put the mission into some kind of political context with an extended prologue but this is really just an old-fashioned action war movie & should be treated as such. Indeed for all Ridleys protestations that he has made an anti-war film this is a movie about big guns, explosions & "never leave a man behind!" Not so much a series of set-pieces more one elongated action scene which doesn't quit.
Despite its avoidance of politics what this film does convey is the sheer intensity & relentlessness of battle much like the opening of Saving Private Ryan. Unlike Spielbergs movie however we don't really care for the individuals under fire here & this is the films major flaw. But this film was never going to be about character development. Scott brings all his talents as a visual director to the conflict the soldiers find themselves in here with helicopters crashing, bullets flying & buildings exploding all around you. Unfortunately the score is strictly by the numbers.

As for the acting? Well we have passable performances from the majority with only the two Ewans standing out, Bremner for the right reasons & McGregor for his awful performance. The rest of the cast suffer amongst all the action & you really can't tell who is who.
Overall this film is a bit of a guilty pleasure, turning a very recent & dubious military manouevre into an action movie. Then again its a bit naive to expect Hollywood blockbusters to explore the political background to any conflict.