Greatest War Movie Out There

Rating: Null/10 (14 March 2002)

If you're going to see this movie for the first time, see it in the theater, because it is much more powerful with the surround sound (the good sound effects add to it also) just as with any war movie. Black Hawk Down ranks up with other movies such as Saving Private Ryan and Platoon, however those wars would decades ago, when in fact this film takes place in recent 1993, when most of us were still alive. The film is based on a very closely related story with true characters and plot. Ridley Scott, one of my most favorite directors, again shows his great talent in Black Hawk Down by going to the limits to make the movie real, and it is very real. I've heard from many magazine articles praising this movie that it is the most realistic war movie out there. It goes deep into you and makes you think how bad war really is. The majority of the soldiers that were sent on the relief mission to Somalia were young and many had never gone into battle before. The film captures the true emotion of these young men when they realize within an hour how bad and unexpectedly bloody a war or special op can get. Hans Zimmer composes yet another great score (he worked with director Ridley Scott on Gladiator also). I am now reading the book, which is just as engrossing as the film, if not more. The thing about this war film was that it is a story of modern war, not WWII or Vietnam or any wars before that. It is also different in a way because these soldiers were sitting ducks and were attacked without warning, so it shows some of the realistic reactions of the soldiers when this occurs like in no other war movie. The film also is focused on one single overnight battle, not several battles as in other war films. Although this may seem to get boring after a while, the film is full of action. If you are looking for impressive special effects and gore and are turning away from this movie believing that the fact that only a little more than a dozen americans were killed decreases its gore, don't. You get plenty of effects and blood in this movie, just as much as all the other war dramas. The actors did a great job in adding to the film's realistic value by showing a variety of emotions during the surprise battle--anger, sadness, and fright. This is quite possibly the greatest war movie out there right now, and I highly recommend it. 9/10